James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for taking this matter himself.

I begin by quoting from a submission from Lusk Community 2020 Sports Club Committee to the Fingal County Council open space strategy:

The Lusk Community 2020 Sports Plan is developed on the basis of ... Community participation in line with Government strategies ... Recreational Hub development in line with the 'Keeping It Green' strategy ... Understanding the social, recreational/sports and economic benefits that can accrue to a community based on high quality open space development within a community ... The need to develop linkages between and across the 'green infrastructure' in order to deliver maximum community benefits ... [and] The need to have strong liaison between communities and local authorities in order to design and develop open space that meet current and future community needs.

The plan includes a floodlit area containing a 100 m by 400 m all-weather playing pitch, a 1,200 m cycling and running track, and a 400 m running track with track and field facilities for shot-put, discus, long jump, hammer and others. Seamus Flynn has been behind Lusk athletic club for many years, and he is determined to train an Olympic medal winner from the town of Lusk. We have five tennis courts, two juvenile training pitches, a senior grass pitch of 140 m by 90 m, an 80 m by 50 m all-weather training area, and a cricket crease where more cricketers can train to represent Ireland. As the Minister knows, rural Fingal has a very strong cricket tradition. A few years ago, when I was in India on St. Patrick's Day to represent the Government, I was informed by the Indian people there that the only reason they had heard of Ireland was because of cricket and our having beaten Pakistan, so the power of this particular sport to promote our country abroad should not be underestimated.

These planned facilities are located beside Lusk soccer club with 19 teams and 325 playing members and rising, Round Towers GAA club with 600 members and growing, Rush and Lusk Educate Together national school, with 420 pupils, Lusk community college, now at 350 pupils but with a new extension planned for later in the year which will bring it to 1,000 pupils, and Lusk national school with 850 pupils and new classrooms under construction.Three Government cranes dominate the skyline of Lusk at the moment and we expect a fourth later in the year.

The population of this area was around 500 to 700 when I started in practice many years ago. It was 7,000 in 2011 and has now grown to 10,000. It is expected to grow to 12,500 in the coming years. As the Minister knows, it has excellent bus and rail links and is in proximity to Dublin, Dublin Airport and Swords. It is an attractive place to live and to start a home and young family. Therefore, the demand for these facilities will continue to grow.

In short I have two requests of the Minister. First, I ask him to consider communicating with Fingal County Council to encourage it to continue to press for the release of these promised open-space lands from the developer, as per the planning permissions granted and the master plan for the area. I commend and acknowledge the determination and commitment of all the volunteers from all the Lusk clubs who have campaigned and engaged in planning this excellent sports facility. The Lusk sports hub committee has lobbied Fingal county councillors, including Councillor Tom O'Leary, to get this key strategic open-space land made available to the community as soon as possible. In fairness, I understand the process is nearing completion but a ministerial letter might just give it the push towards completion it needs.

Second, taking into account the well thought out, future-proof plan for sports facilities for Lusk the sports hub group has produced in conjunction with the community and Fingal County Council, I ask the Minister to favourably consider assisting the Lusk community sports hub group and Fingal County Council in funding this excellent plan, which seems to be a very fine example of best practice in community sports development and planning.