Eamonn Coghlan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was there for Operation Bush4mation in co-operation with "Operation Transformation", which has been on television for the last six weeks, and which has been drawing tremendous attention to the fitness and well-being of people here in Ireland. I was impressed with Bush Post Primary School and the facilities available for the local community. Not only does the school have a magnificent athletics track and gymnasium, but it is well floodlit and it has allowed the secondary school to be used by the general community in the Cooley Peninsula. While I was there I began to think about how the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus Development Authority being merged into Sport Ireland. The heads of the relevant Bill have been produced. Having witnessed how the school has opened its facilities to the community in the Cooley Peninsula, I think of all the facilities in schools throughout Ireland that could be made available for the general community in those areas but, unfortunately, are not due to insurance or management issues.

This might be the ideal time to invite the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister of State with responsibility for sport to the House, individually or together, to discuss how the proposed new Sport Ireland body can help schools throughout the country manage the utilisation of these facilities. Schools are usually only open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and are free after that. We should have a debate on how to utilise and manage these facilities for the communities throughout Ireland.