Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers I want to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, to the House. I, too, strongly support the motion, which calls for greater involvement of people with disabilities in sport. I compliment and thank my colleagues, Senator Martin Conway and Senator John O'Mahony, for bringing forward the motion.

We all know the benefits of being involved in sport and engaging in exercise in terms of promoting good physical and mental health and well-being for everybody, the community and the wider society.As previous speakers indicated, sport is very much part of the fabric which knits together communities. All of us see this in action within our communities. Some of the greatest days for us, as a country, have revolved around our greatest sporting achievements, both on the national and the international stage. It is, therefore, essential that we allow all of our people to be involved in sport, be that from a participant or a spectator point of view.

The successes of Irish teams at both the Special Olympics and Paralympics show clearly that disability need not be a barrier to achieving sporting success. It is important that we properly and fully acknowledge the successes of the Irish Paralympics team, who have achieved incredible success in bringing home nine medals from the world games, which undoubtedly bodes very well for Tokyo 2020. I know too that our Special Olympics team is putting in an incredible amount of work in advance of the 2019 games in Abu Dhabi. I have met many of our local athletes and participants in the Special Olympics team in my own area, who are such fantastic ambassadors for the county and for our country. We had a wonderful evening at the Roscommon races recently which really celebrated their successes. Everybody is so proud of their achievements, as they are themselves. As an occupational therapist, I have worked extensively with people with disabilities. I am very much aware of the positive impact being involved in sport can have on an individual.

I hope the Minister will take the motion on board. Many speakers referred to Sport Ireland and the comprehensive policy regarding the participation of people with disabilities in sport. We know that the policy should be used as a framework in terms of increasing participation. I note one recent positive development in the context of increasing participation. Councillor Vicki Casserly was involved with the FAI and South Dublin County Council in providing Ireland's first frame football pitch, which is ensuring that people with disabilities can become involved in football. It is a great initiative. I saw images of the opening and it was wonderful to see people involved in sport and to see the smiles on the faces. While sport is sometimes about winning, much of the time it is about taking part and about participation. It was wonderful to see those initiatives being successful and being supported, and we need to see a lot more of that. It is good we are having this debate and, hopefully, we can move towards ensuring we have greater participation for all.