Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Cathaoirleach for some leeway in that because I would like to commend Mr. Mícheál Naughton, the president of the LGFA on the leadership he has shown and to commend him and his team on the publication of the report. As the Cathaoirleach may know, Mícheál is a Fianna Fáil councillor and we are very proud of the work he is doing in that regard. I would like to put on record that the elite LGFA players I know are very big and very strong and they are not to be messed with. I have every confidence in their leadership. I think it would be particularly mean-spirited if trans girls were prevented from taking part in Gaelic football in their communities because quite often in rural communities that is the only sporting activity that might be available to them, so I commend Mr. Naughton.

I would like us to have a debate in this Chamber on swimming pool provision across the country. As we all know, we are an island nation and swimming is a life skill we should all have and it obviously has many health benefits. We have a particular issue in north county Dublin. We have the youngest and fastest-growing population in the country and we have no public swimming pool that young and old can avail of. Children travel long distances from schools in Balbriggan and beyond, from the Naul, Balrothery, all of these places in north county Dublin with large communities. They go to Drogheda at much cost to the school. Many of them cannot even afford to send their children to avail of swimming lessons so we should have a proper discussion on where we stand as a country and where we want to go. Are we going to provide swimming pools in communities that desperately need them? We were very lucky in Donabate that we had a pop-up swimming pool recently and that worked really well. Let us look at these different models and let us provide public swimming pools for people right across the country but, in particular, in north county Dublin. It is something I have requested for a long time so if we could have a debate on that matter, I would really appreciate it.