Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, to the House. I support the amendment to the motion, as tabled by Senator Feighan on behalf of the Fine Gael Party.

The motion states, "acknowledges sport was first given a seat at the Cabinet table back in 1997". When one reflects on this, one can say we have had since then a Minister with responsibility for sport at the Cabinet table for the first time, but we must question what we have to show for it. In this year alone, there has been a €7 million reduction in the grant to the Irish Sports Council, yet speakers from the other side of the House have said a wonderful job has been done.

The Minister used the favourite trick of many Ministers under pressure — he compared current expenditure to that of 1997. We know the expenditure in 1997 but the reality is that we are talking about a different era in which there is a different amount of money available to the Government. Were it not for the fact that there has been such a waste of funds, I would say the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism had adequate resources to make a positive impact in terms of providing facilities to young people. If one listens to gardaí at any community meeting, one will note they always say the first priority is to address the lack of facilities for young people. They have no place to go other than to the pub where they waste their time.

Where facilities exist, they are not available to the young people because of the high cost of insurance. Many committees throughout the country have, on a voluntary basis, provided facilities through collecting money in whatever way they could. They ask the Government for matching funds or any funds with which to run them but they are told to wait until the following year.

An examination of circumstances throughout the west of Ireland, where most of the grants have ceased to be allocated, is a clear indication that the Minister has used the funds of the national lottery as a slush fund. This charge has been made for years. There was a time when the funds went to Kildare predominantly but we now see that the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism has allocated more than his fair share to Kerry. While this continues to happen, there will be inequality in the provision of resources for the youth.

How many national schools throughout the country have proper physical education facilities? Few do despite the fact that the Department of Education and Science has paid lip service to this issue by claiming additional resources and facilities must be provided for primary schools so kids can be given a proper physical education. The reality is that the OECD has clearly said that Ireland is towards the bottom of a list of 27 or 28 OECD countries in a table outlining national provision in this area. Ireland has a figure of less than 4% while the national average in the other countries is nearly 10%. How can we justify the Government's position on sports funding given that we have had plenty of resources available to us?

This morning in the House I indicated that the Minister has failed miserably to spend money. That is unusual for this Government. We charge it with having wasted money in a series of projects, including those associated with sports facilities, yet some €50 million was returned to the European Union because the Minister failed to nominate a worthy project on which it could be spent along the western seaboard, either on tourism or a sports-related project. This is a damning indictment of a Minister who sits at the Cabinet table and we need say no more about his commitment to sports and sports facilities.

Will the Minster of State relay to the Minister that he should, in conjunction with his colleague the Minister for Education and Science, formally and finally put together a scheme whereby every national school, rural and urban, disadvantaged and otherwise, would be treated equally with regard to the provision of facilities and resources such that a meaningful physical education system can be provided for young children at school? Such a scheme does not exist. Even where facilities do exist, insufficient time is allowed in the curriculum for teachers to participate adequately in helping young children to enjoy physical education, as should be the case.

Consider what is happening in the country today with regard to the GAA. Without the voluntary contribution of many such bodies outside the schools, what would happen the general population of young people? Despite the fact that some 300,000 of them suffer from obesity, this figure would rise to 1 million or more in a short time. Teachers nowadays are literally afraid to take children out because of the fear of an accident, the sense of responsibility and the insurance claims that may follow. The Minister of State with responsibility for sport and the Minister for Education and Science must tackle that problem. Where there are community or other sporting facilities to which people have access, the Government should think of a scheme to either support or exempt them from insurance cover and rates. This might encourage physical education programmes to be put in place within such structures at any time of the year, particularly in winter when young people can be taken off the streets and enjoy such facilities during the long dark evenings.

The tabling of this motion on sport would indicate Government Members were afraid to touch health, the environment and other matters. They did a bad day's work for their party and the Government.