John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is not enough appreciation of volunteering in sport. While that does not apply to the Minister of State, it certainly is the case for some parents, who use sport as a baby-sitting service for their children and then, when their Johnny does not get picked for the team, blame the volunteer who has done all the work. People should be less critical of the volunteers who are in every village and town in Ireland. While there are plenty of them, there still are not enough. As we all know, it is the same people who do all this work all the time. The amount of time they invest in motivating young children is just unreal. Thanks to these volunteers, we have a huge level of participation in sport, which gels together all nationalities. Sport has no boundaries and does not recognise religion, colour, creed or status. Indeed, we had a member of the Traveller community carrying our national flag at the Olympic Games. This is all brought about by volunteers.
Money spent on community centres, new pitches, swimming pools and so forth is money well spent. It is far better than spending money on courthouses. In that context, I must compliment the Minister of State on divvying out the sports capital grants in a very fair manner. He listened to all representations made to him. One might say he is the Santa Claus Minister of this Government, because there is nobody else delivering anything. I recall making representations to the Minister on behalf of the gymnastics club in Ballaghaderreen, which was awarded €7,000 or €8,000 under the sports capital programme. Were it not for that money, the club would have been shut down. In that sense, the Minister of State is keeping structures in place.
Participation in sport contributes greatly to healthy socialising, greater academic success and better character values. In my own town of Ballaghaderreen I managed an under-14 soccer team about four years ago. I played my small part and the team won the premiership that year. Members of the local Traveller community were on the team, as were members of the Pakistani community, as well as local lads. The Pakistani lad who played on the team, Sharoize Akram, is now playing minor football for Mayo, and will go on to greater things; of that there is no doubt. He is an absolutely unreal athlete and he will end up playing senior football with Mayo. Cian Hanley was also on that team. He is a brother of Pearce Hanley, who plays for the Brisbane Lions. Cian, who is just 18, has now gone out to Australia, having signed a contract with the Brisbane Lions too. Ballaghaderreen is also home to the Connaught cricket champions. All of this started from volunteerism.
We also have a 14-year-old badminton player in Ballaghaderreen called Adam McAllister, who won a European championship match recently. He was in the same class as my own son, whom the Minister of State met and who is a four-time world champion Irish dancer. In the same class is a young lad called Patrick Callaghan. Two years ago his father decided that Patrick was not getting enough exercise so he brought him out walking. He got bored with walking after a few days so his father decided to try the golf course. He borrowed some clubs and brought him out. Patrick took to golf in an instant and has won both national and international competitions already. It is reckoned that he will be the next Rory McIlroy.
We also have a very successful Gaelic football club and soccer club. I thank the Minister of State for awarding grants to both of those clubs, as well as to many other clubs in my area. All of those clubs are run by volunteers. There is huge participation in sport in my own town and many other towns. It is keeping children away from PlayStations. At this point I wish to make special mention of a man called Brian Tansey, who passed away a number of years ago. Brian was not just a volunteer; he was an extraordinary volunteer. He was involved with the GAA, gymnastics, the Community Games and so on. He coached children from the age of four. I remember bringing my then four- or five-year-old son to the GAA club for the first time. Brian was there, coaching with the club. I watched my young fella out on the field, like any proud dad, and hoped that he would get the ball and kick it over the bar, but he would not run or call for the ball. He just stood there. I asked myself "Is he going to do anything?". Brian Tansey then intercepted the ball in mid-air, went over to my son and handed it to him. That was his first kick of a ball. Now he is playing for the east Mayo minors and is hoping to compete for a place on the Mayo minor team. This was all brought about by volunteerism and good volunteers.
There are children out there who will say, every so often, "There is nothing for us to do," but for God's sake, there is plenty for them to do. The following is some advice from a judge who regularly dealt with young people, which was passed on by John Tapene, principal of Northland College in New Zealand:

Always we hear the cry from teenagers, "what can we do, where can we go?" My answer is this: Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons and after you've finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun.
The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in sickness and lonely again. In other words grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you!

That is very good advice. I thank the Minister of State and urge him to keep up the good work. We hope that next year he will be acting like Santa Claus for the people of Roscommon again.