Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I will deal with the two questions and then respond to the debate.

With regard to Senator White's question, I would not interfere with how doctors do their business. However, sport is very important. I have been saying this since I was appointed Minister of State. If more people took part in sport, we would not need as many consultants, doctors or hospitals. We should encourage people. It is difficult to legislate for people to take part in sport but it is easier to educate them. Schools have an important role in this regard. We must talk to children about this at an early age.

I recently asked my officials to progress the targeting of funding for local authority sports facilities, and I compliment them on the speed with which they dealt with the matter. That money is now available. I want the work to start now and the facilities to be completed by the end of the year. I asked my officials to ask county managers and local authorities to target areas where there may be no facilities, such as a soccer, rugby or athletics club, and to bring sports facilities and multi-purpose parks to housing estates. We must give children an opportunity and encourage them to take part in sport at an early age. The local authorities responded to this initiative and I compliment them on that.

Senator Cummins is correct when he says boxing has done the country proud. I made €1.25 million available for boxing facilities because I felt that boxing clubs had not got their fair share of the national cake, in the form of the sports capital programme, over the years. More and more women are taking part in boxing but they do not have adequate facilities. We have asked the IABA to administer the scheme. The association will hire professional people and assess the progress of the scheme on behalf of the Department. We have handed the scheme over to the IABA and we are waiting for it to respond to us. We want to target boxing for women and to make facilities available to women.

Katie Taylor has been mentioned. She has done the country proud. I ask the media to lay off Katie Taylor in the run-up to the Olympic Games and to leave her alone and let her train. I call on the media not to put unnecessary pressure on her before the Olympic Games. She will deal with media attention after the games, if things go well. At present, she should be left alone to concentrate on her training.

I have explained why we targeted boxing. I hope the IABA will report back to me shortly. I want this work to be completed by the end of the year in some areas. If it is not, we will have to look at the matter. Boxing has done us proud and that is why we have targeted this funding.

I will take further questions from Senators.