John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, to the House on this the first occasion on which I have had the opportunity to do so. I am delighted by his appointment. It is good to see a Member of the Oireachtas soccer and rugby teams in the Seanad to listen to a debate on sport.

I was interested to learn that Senator Mansergh had always been opposed to the building of what became known as the Bertie bowl at Abbotstown. By contrast, Senator Kitt expressed his disappointment that it did not proceed. However, I fully agree with Senator Mansergh that the provision of sporting facilities like a national stadium in existing urban areas is much more desirable than building them on the outskirts of cities. Where the infrastructure is already in place, it should be utilised. Croke Park is a credit to the GAA and I look forward to the provision of a state-of-the-art facility at Lansdowne Road.

I am a member of several sporting organisations. Sadly, I am a junior B hurler as I no longer get the chance to train as much as I did. I am also involved in what someone described earlier as "garrison games" and play a bit of rugby when I get the chance. I share Senator Mansergh's opinion on the argument that sporting organisations compete with each other. The real opponent is apathy. Every organisation tries to get as many younger people as possible involved in sporting activity.

Several speakers mentioned obesity and health. Obesity is the buzz word of the past few months and it is supposed that we all suffer from the problem or are close to doing so. All kinds of reasons as to why this is the case have been suggested. None of us can deny that young people have become less active and involved in sporting activity than was the case ten or 15 years ago. There are a number of reasons for this. New developments are built in Dublin and rural towns which fail to provide sufficient green space and recreational areas for younger people. We are also confronted with the problem that parents are afraid to let their children out on the street and want to know where they are at all times. This is due to many issues which have emerged in recent years. The way to counteract these problems is to ensure we provide national sporting facilities which are safe, secure and state-of-the-art.

There has been a significant increase in spending on sporting facilities in recent years. However, there have also been concurrent significant increases in the cost of providing such facilities. An example is the often mentioned Bertie bowl with which the Chair's colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, was very preoccupied in the run-up to the last general election.