Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to stand to support my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, in her Department. We have to be very clear. It is a very sad state of affairs when a Minister of State requests a meeting with employees under her remit and that access is denied. We need to be very serious about these things. The independent republic of the HSE will have to come into the reality of our democracy and should be answerable to the Minister and accountable to all of us as politicians and citizens of the country.On a positive note, I wish to highlight an incredible event that happened last Sunday at my local athletic club, Glenmore Athletic Club, and congratulate those involved. The club organised an event in conjunction with the Louth-Meath branch of Down Syndrome Ireland. We had a "come try" athletics day and children from all around the country attended the club in the Cooley Peninsula. They used our track to try out athletics and many volunteers were involved. The children in our club attended. One member of our club with Down's syndrome, Mr. David O'Hare, has represented Ireland on an international level. We are proud of him. We wanted to open up our club to everybody and to become more inclusive. The children involved tried the long jump, sprints and javelin. It was a powerful and empowering day. My children got a lot out of it. They told me that the other children were very supportive of one another while still being competitive. I highlight that as an initiative other athletics clubs can copy. The event benefited everybody in our community.

I request that the Leader arranges for the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to attend the House, engage in a debate and talk about how we are going to make all our sports mainstream and inclusive. Just because people have disabilities does not mean they should not take part in the same competitions, clubs and everything else as other people, whether they are our neighbours, friends or cousins. I welcome that initiative from Glenmore Athletic Club.