Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

With the permission of the House I will share my time with Senator Brennan. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and for the paper he has delivered. It contained very little with which any Member could quibble. Indeed, I am pleased to hear the Minister make a commitment to carry out an audit of sports facilities throughout the country. One of the purposes of that audit, once completed, would be to avoid duplication in the future development of sports facilities. In that context, I take issue with Senator O'Toole's comment that he would like the Abbotstown facilities to be revitalised. He stated he wants another national stadium built at Abbotstown. A forward-looking management plan has been put in place for Lansdowne Road, however, whereby the major sporting organisations have signed a contract to work together. We will have to adopt the same approach to stadia across the country. I hope the audit to which the Minister referred will avoid duplication and ensure such co-operation between sporting bodies in the future.

I would remind Senator O'Toole that as recently as last week it appeared that the metro will not be delivered for Dublin. One of the basic components of the Abbotstown development was that we would have a metro system by 2007 or 2008. That will not happen now. If the Abbotstown plan were to be revitalised, therefore, it would have to be done in the knowledge that there will be no fast-track public transport system to the area. The metro was the benchmark by which the plan was written and the bedrock upon which it was to be built.

Like many Members, I am a supporter of the GAA and of sport in general. One could say that public debate now comes down to who played well last night and what team formation will play tonight, rather than what took place in the Seanad or the Dáil. We are all aware of the feeling of satisfaction when we see our national sporting representatives performing well abroad. Our sporting fans are a source of pride and joy when they travel overseas to international fixtures. For that reason I want to see fans accommodated in world-class stadia here, which will be the case at Lansdowne Road.

I compliment the Government on the magnificent contribution it is making by way of allocating grants for sporting endeavour across the country. In my own housing estate, for example, grants have been made available for all-weather sports surfaces. However, co-operation is required between various sports clubs in sharing such all-weather facilities. It is not fair for one club to claim that since it received a grant it will have the exclusive use of such a facility. We must be imaginative and forward looking, as is the Lansdowne Road proposal. In that case, major sporting organisations are offering to work together in their future use of the modernised facility.

One aspect of the Sports Campus Ireland project was a school of sporting excellence, which should be developed now. Initially, we should review the current state of Irish sport, both nationally and internationally. We must review the Irish Sports Council's strategy, along with our international sports performance and the current weaknesses in that strategy. We should also examine the position in other countries which have developed schools of excellence, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy. The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism should embark on an examination of schools of sporting excellence in those countries to see how they were developed.

In addition to examining the research that has been undertaken on sports facilities in those countries, we must aim to develop a world-class performance programme for our elite athletes who require support. It is difficult enough for such athletes to win sponsorship but it is even harder for them to retain it through consistently good performances. The Government must invest in a new, independent high performance centre along the same lines as the school for sporting excellence, which was envisaged for Abbotstown.

As one of the original objectors to the Abbotstown proposal, I think the case against it has been made more than adequately now and the taxpayer has been spared the expense. The debate on Abbotstown should now be put to bed. We must move towards providing a school of sporting excellence for our elite athletes, in addition to local sports facilities, by investing the money that would have been wasted on building another 80,000-seat stadium. I urge the Minister to embark upon such an investment plan.