Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to the House and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. The motion includes one item for which Members on this side of the House should not apologise, namely the unprecedented political priority which has been given to sport since the Government took office. I congratulate the Minister because he has brought this a step further than his predecessor. As has been noted in the House, we cannot underestimate the importance of sport and recreation in social and economic terms. The Minister remarked that the ESRI report estimated the value of the social aspects of sport to be €1.4 billion. Recently, Fianna Fáil Members had the pleasure of hearing Professor Robert Puttnam speak on the subject of social capital. Sport is the major contributor to social capital in this country. Approximately 400,000 people or 10% to 15% of our population volunteer week in, week out to support others in sport, which is a large base for us to work from. We have the experience gained from hosting the Special Olympics, which brought out a certain spirit of volunteerism at all levels in the public for possibly the first time. We should not apologise for supporting this spirit.

From the start, the Government recognised that sport must be supported, not just rhetorically but financially. The €750 million spent since 1997 is a shrewd investment in the future, the benefits of which I see at first hand. In areas around the north inner city, the increase and improvement in facilities from sports halls to all-weather pitches has been phenomenal over the past five to ten years. Were it not for this investment, some young children and teenagers would find themselves dragged into lives of drug abuse and crime with dire consequences. The investment has enabled local community activists, particularly gardaí, to divert these youths away from the possibility of falling into such traps.

Whenever I encounter children lounging around streets or on corners I make a point of asking them whether they could be somewhere else or why they are there. The answer I get 99% of the time is that there is nothing for them to do or nowhere to go. The root of many problems children fall into is boredom. The more we can do to counteract that boredom, the better. Children today have high expectations and we must attract them towards these measures. The investment in top class, fully equipped facilities is crucial in this regard. The sports capital programme has been successful because of this investment and its 4,900 projects will continue to reap benefits.

We must continue in our support and strengthening of sports infrastructure. We in this country are blessed with a solid infrastructural base, particularly in sporting terms. This includes voluntary and statutory bodies, whether it is the GAA or the Irish Sports Council, the VECs or schoolboy leagues. We are lucky to have a framework that does not exist in other countries. At weekends, clubs in my area collect hundreds of young boys and girls, give them kits, bring them to games, bring them for small snacks afterwards and drop them home. This may be for only one day per week but the difference it makes in a child's life is immeasurable. Clubs such as these comprise the backbone of our sporting infrastructure.

My recent experience is that the most beneficial improvements have been in the links between sporting clubs, people involved on a voluntary basis and statutory bodies, particularly local authorities. Significant strides have been made in Dublin City Council's area regarding the allocation of sports officers, play areas, whether they are playgrounds or all-weather pitches, and sports halls, which have been built and run by Dublin City Council. These have made profound differences to whole communities in the inner city. It is a mark of progress for which we should not apologise. We must encourage and build on it.

I was not going to mention schools but after listening to Members of the Opposition speak about school children and obesity, it is a fact that a school child spends 20% of his or her time in school and the other 80% in the loving arms of his or her family. Physical education and gym classes are parts of the curriculum whether it is a private or religious ethos school, a community college or a VEC. Parents must take responsibility for their children sitting at PlayStations for several hours per day and what their children eat. Schools can only do so much and, in fairness to them, they make every attempt to do their best.

Another interesting statistic is that every €1 of Exchequer expenditure supports the equivalent of an additional €2.7 in corresponding investment by clubs, community groups, schools, colleges and local authorities. This is fantastic as it means that €316 million of State funding supports €1.2 billion in sports and community facilities around the country. It is a testament to the policies this Government and its predecessor followed and I do not apologise for the unprecedented political priority given to sport.