John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, to the House. The Minister's title indicates how much importance the Government attaches to sport. The Minister, like other speakers, referred to the way sport improves the health of the nation. That is not something new. The Romans had the phrase mens sana in corpore sano — healthy body, healthy mind. Sometimes I just wonder how true that is.

For anybody, like the Minister, who was in Cardiff, perhaps it was not all that good for our health until the match was won. I am sure the Minister has been involved in a few close finishes in Listowel, Tralee, Punchestown and the Curragh, that might not have been the best for his health, or even his pocket. Of course sport is beneficial to the nation. There is also the aspect of our national well-being, of which Senator Quinn has spoken, that the nation is given a boost when our international competitors do well, whether in team events, in the Olympic Games or elsewhere, and that is good.

Another important aspect of sport is that it produces role models. Obviously important international sportspersons are significant role models for young people and they can have either a beneficial or negative effect. It often strikes me as odd that people who earn such enormous amounts of money, particularly in association football, are not more aware of their responsibilities to younger people and to conduct themselves properly so they are good role models. By and large, our international soccer players and other international sporting personalities are an entirely beneficial influence on young people but there are one or two unfortunate exceptions.

I disagree with Senator Quinn on the need for the national sports campus development authority. We are all agreed that we need the campus and the centres of excellence, which are the way of promoting success on the playing fields, in athletics and in sport generally. There must be some body that takes control and that body needs to be at arm's length from the entire area. It is an extremely complex operation and it is appropriate that the authority takes over from Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited. The Minister is correct in what he is doing and the history of the entire project would underline how correct he is.

The centres of excellence operate at a national and a local level. Probably the best example is the Australian system, which has produced top-class athletes. It also has been beneficial in rugby, football and other team sports in Australia. There is a requirement at that level of elite athlete and sportsperson for these facilities and the full range of monitoring supports. It has become a scientific activity at the highest level of sport, in terms of metabolism, fitness and even warming down. I am sure the Minister would recall when people got into a car at the end of a match in the corner of a wet field in Kerry and now they seem to go off to a hotel where ice is packed around them, and they must warm down as well as warm up. We have come a long way and, unfortunately, that is what competing at an international level involves. That said, I am conscious of the achievements of athletes such as Herb Elliott, who became one of the greatest middle distance runners of all time just by running up and down the sand dunes in News Zealand. There is something that must be in the make-up of the individual, particularly in solo events. The young girl who recently sailed around the world solo is another such example.

There is also the local aspect of sport and that is where the sports capital programme has made a significant impact. It has been enormously beneficial in providing facilities for clubs and communities who help to foster the original seeds, which we hope will finish up in the national centre of excellence and become persons of international standing within their sports or at the top levels within domestic sport in the case of Gaelic football or hurling.

Unfortunately, participation does not seem to be enough any more. The great example to the contrary, and I suppose one of the significant positives, was the Special Olympics, where participation was enough and where young people went out and enjoyed what they were doing. That also gave a considerable boost to the nation. However, winning now seems to be everything and I suppose that is because of money. Sport has become professional, which leads me to the point that there must be extreme vigilance by the sporting authorities, with the support of the Government, to ensure the use of performance-enhancing drugs does not become prevalent within sport. The Minister will be aware of the rigorous controls in horse racing, for instance, to detect illegal substances to the point where it is almost possible to detect one grain of coffee in the feed of a horse, and this can cause problems. We must be at such a leading edge in terms of the technology available to detect these substances and to deal effectively with them.

Like all Members, I welcome the decision to open Croke Park to allow the national rugby and soccer teams play there during the development of Lansdowne Road. It would have been unfortunate to have to go to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, even though it is wonderful, the new Wembley stadium, if it is ever built, or wherever. It is obvious that those games should take place in Ireland and I made the point to the Cathaoirleach, on a previous occasion when we discussed it, that I am really looking forward to going to Croke Park and Michael Cusack would approve when we stuff the English there in a Triple Crown match. There will be a certain applause from the people who went before.

I hope the Lansdowne Road project will go smoothly. I accept that the planning system must be gone through. I am conscious that the Government has put nearly €200 million into this project and I am sure it will be money well spent. It is unfortunate that one of the oldest and most distinguished rugby clubs in the country seems to be trying to delay this project or at least make progress more difficult. Given the club's history and ethos, this is not consistent with how it should behave. I say this by way of an aside.

Another lesson from all of this relates to the keeping of public lands in public ownership. When I was a local authority member and land became expensive, I wondered why local authorities did not cash in on the landbank when I considered how much could be done with the money. That was right on one level but, on another, it was wrong. Unless lands are retained in public ownership, it becomes extremely difficult to acquire sites of the scale of Abbotstown.