John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate in the House after Easter about the state of sport in Ireland and its administration, governance and funding. During the past weeks and months, sport has made headlines, in may cases for positive reasons but also for very negative reasons. In the last couple of days, all Members will have received the Sport Ireland report on the Rio games. It is a review of what worked and what did not work and what needs to be done. It is a very comprehensive document and on an initial perusal it points to many of the successes, obviously, but also the shortcomings and the glaring weaknesses of some of the governing bodies. Anyone reading through it would wonder why it has taken until now to sort out some of the issues but that is the situation. I ask the Leader to arrange that the Minister responsible for sport come to the House. There is a little confusion over whether that is the Minister, Deputy Ross, or the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, but that is for the Leader to sort out. There are many inquiries into the ticket issue and the Olympics and so on but that should not prevent debate and action and corrective measures being put in place. It would be good to have the discussion. There is nothing that can lift a nation like sport can, whether at national or international level. Increased funding is needed, even from the Government side I would say that, but there is also need for accountability and transparency on the funding provided which has not always been present.