Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I genuinely thank the Minister of State. It is bizarre that we have the Government commitments. The strategy is there and the money is there. There is the figure of €100 million up to 2027. The Minister of State corrected me. I said it was the third most popular sport, but it is the second most popular sport. I have the largest constituency and yet we do not even have an application by Fingal County Council for my area. There is something wrong. This is certainly not the will of the people or of the organisations and the local groups that have established themselves to fight for this. It is certainly not for the lack of it being raised by the local county councillors in my part of Dublin Fingal in Fingal County Council. There is something amiss.

I will tell the Minister of State what I know, which is that 170,000 people deserve to have access to a sports facility for second-largest and most-enjoyed sport in the country. With the Minister of State’s and his Department’s help and with the swimming strategy, I hope we can co-operate and work together to get the modular builds built fast. It is not a €25 million structure, such as those we see in other towns and villages. Right now, we have nothing. We need something and we need it fast.

I ask for the Minister of State’s support and for someone in his Department to make contact with the relevant director of services in Fingal County Council to see how we can bring forward the modular programme. Certainly, Fingal County Council can afford €1 million. Obviously, any access to funding would be welcome. I ask the Minister of State for a commitment that somebody in his Department will work with us to see if we can advance the delivery of not just one modular pool, but a number of modular pools for Dublin Fingal.