Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will provide a detailed history of the national sports facility strategy; the reason the process has taken more than 12 years and there is still no strategy in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37582/09]

Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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The development of a national sports facilities strategy was originally a commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government 2002-2007. Before commencing work on the strategy, an assessment of the sports capital programme was undertaken. This was done in the context of an expenditure review of the programme, which sought to assess the benefits that the investment had yielded to date and identify any difficulties or inefficiencies associated with the operation of the programme. This review, which commenced in 2003, took longer than expected to complete due to the scale of the programme and the time required to analyse the volume of information and data that was collected during the review.

The expenditure review report was completed in 2005, following which an inter-agency steering group was established by this Department to oversee the development of the strategy. The group comprised representatives from my Department and the Departments of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Education and Science, Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Finance, along with the Irish Sports Council, the National Sports Campus Development Authority and the County and City Managers' Association. Consultants were engaged to assist in the development of the strategy.

In order to generate a clear picture of the important issues to be considered in the provision of sports facilities, a wide range of stakeholders, including other Departments, local authorities, national governing bodies of sport, local sports partnerships, sports clubs and interested individuals were consulted during the drafting of the strategy. A review was also carried out of existing national and international reports, studies and strategies relating to facility provision.

A draft national sports facility strategy for the period 2010-15 has now been completed within my Department and has been circulated to a number of other Departments and relevant bodies for observations. Any comments received will be taken into consideration and the Minister intends to submit the strategy to Government shortly for its consideration and publication. The aim of the national sports facilities strategy is to provide high-level policy direction for future investment and grant assistance at national, regional and local level. The strategy also identifies the wider economic, health and social case for continued investment in sports facilities. It aims to prioritise areas for future investment and to ensure continued impact in the relevant areas.

As the Deputy will be aware, no new applications for funding under the sports capital programme were invited in 2009. It is the Minister's intention that it will be on the basis of the new strategy for sports facilities that future funding of such facilities will be determined.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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It is beyond me why it has taken so long for this strategy to be put in place. We got the review and report on tourism within a matter of months but the issue of a strategy and review of sports capital funding has gone on for years. The outcome of this is that sports capital grants are not available. We do not know why this is the case or when they will be opened up again. If we had the strategy in place and knew what was in it, we could make progress. We have all been concerned about the sports capital grant, but nothing has happened. We were able to get action on the entire banking system overnight. We sat here one night and the Government voted the proposal through.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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May we have a question from the Deputy?

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Why has developing a strategy taken so long? How much consultation is needed on it and is there some reason it has not been published?

Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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To put it in context and to mitigate the criticism, an enormous amount of money has been put into improving sports facilities in this country over the period. Some €725 million was spent on this area between 1998 and this year. I am sure the Deputy is as aware as I am, from observation in her constituency, of the transforming effect on many clubs and facilities the sports capital programme has had. I said to the previous Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy John O'Donoghue, that if the rest of Government worked as well as the sports capital programme did during that period, the country would be flying.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The rest of the country does not agree.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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It worked well for his constituency, Kerry South.

Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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Not just Kerry South.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Perhaps not, but it worked particularly well there.

Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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Tipperary South had no Minister between 2002 and 2008, but it did very well during the period in question. When I was in Kerry one summer just after the sports capital grants had been announced, the message on the front page of The Kerryman was "Thanks Minister", but there was no thanks and several inside pages carried howls of complaint from sports clubs in Kerry that had not received grants. This fact should be borne in mind.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister of State is going off on an unnecessary tangent. I ask for the co-operation of Members on these questions.

Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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I have not finished my reply.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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The facts are at variance with the Minister of State's comment on allocation of capital sports funding.

Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to the 2009 situation, there is a considerable overhang of commitments. Approximately €56 million was allocated this year and it is being spent on previous commitments. Some previous commitments will still require to be paid for next year also. Nonetheless, as indicated in my reply, consideration is being given on the basis of the new strategy as to what form future funding will take. As the Deputy will appreciate, like everything else, this depends on budgetary and Estimates decisions which I cannot pre-empt.