Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This will be the third round of the SCP since this Government came into office, a very significant achievement by any standards, particularly against the backdrop of the continuing economic challenges facing the country.

While details of the 2015 programme will be announced in due course, the third round of the sports capital programme since 2012 shows the Government's commitment to sport and to the excellent work being done by sporting organisations the length and breadth of the country.
In conclusion, I again thank the Senators for tabling this motion, and I thank all Senators who attended today. In reply to Senator Moran, she is quite correct that we have many sporting organisations and a high level of participation, particularly in the Special Olympics and the Paralympics. I had the honour and pleasure of being in Greece for the Special Olympics and stood under the Irish flag. It was the happiest day I have experienced in sport, and I never enjoyed anything like it. Being the true sportspeople that they are, the athletes gave it 100%. Many other Senators made contributions today and I would like to come back to the House on another occasion to go through them. I would particularly like to thank those who were so kind in their comments.
On the issue of the sports capital programme, there is one thing I would like to put on the record loud and clear. The allocation of funding on a pro ratabasis, a practice I introduced, has worked and I think it will become the norm for the future. I do not think any other Minister will be able to go back again to the bad old days. In some cases, and probably in rural Ireland, there has been disadvantage. Dublin has been lucky. Every valid sporting organisation in Dublin that made an application for the sports capital programme actually got funding. We had bigger problems in rural Ireland because we had a very large number of applications but we did not have the resources and money to be able to deal with all these projects.
I have to take this opportunity to congratulate Katie Taylor. She is a brilliant role model who will be in Irish sporting history for the rest of her life. She is such an example to sportspeople in the way she behaves, carries herself and performs.