Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I have raised sports funding in this House on a number of occasions. The last time the Minister of State was in the House we were debating a report from the sports and media committee when we raised sports funding as well. It is a vital conversation to have in this House. As has been mentioned a few times this evening, it is important for many people in this country.

I start by acknowledging the sports capital fund. The Minister of State outlined this evening that since 1998 some 13,000 projects have been supported at a cost of over €1 billion. That needs to be acknowledged and we are grateful for that funding. Every time the sports capital grants are announced we are all contacted by members of sporting organisations to sit down with them and go through applications. It is something we all do because we all value sport and we all value the prospect of those clubs and committees getting sports capital funding. I acknowledge the amount of sports capital funding by all governments since 1998.

I agree with Senator O'Reilly that it is always important to acknowledge volunteers when we talk about sport. This applies in the major pillar sports of Gaelic games, soccer and rugby right down to the minority sports. Without volunteers putting in hours and hours of work, many sporting organisations in this country simply would not survive. When we are talking about sports funding, it is important to acknowledge the volunteers who go about that on a daily and weekly basis. They spend hours away from their families doing that work. I know there have been issues with the number of volunteers, and sports clubs are calling out for volunteers. Today a few sports clubs, including my own, were calling out for volunteers once again. The Covid pandemic disrupted the number of volunteers coming to clubs. I take the opportunity of tonight's debate about sports funding to put out a call for volunteers to continue their great work with sports clubs in catering for many young children and ensuring those clubs continue to survive and flourish.

I know the Minister of State gave us some figures for sports funding in his opening remarks. The latest figures we have for sports funding relating to 2021 put us at the bottom of EU spending on sports funding at 0.4%. Countries such as Portugal and Denmark are spending twice as much as that and Sweden is spending three times as much as we did in those years. I believe those are the latest figures available.

I wish to discuss where sports funding goes. I have raised this with the Minister of State previously. In a recent address to this House, the GAA president, Larry McCarthy, raised the prospect of the lack of facilities particularly relating to integration between the LGFA, the Camogie Association and the GAA. He and the GAA were concerned about the lack of facilities throughout the country. I am sure the Minister of State has heard this comment because it is a comment I hear regularly throughout south Kildare and also when I engage with sports clubs in my neighbouring counties of Laois, Meath, Wicklow and Carlow. It is an issue that is brought up with me time and time again.

On the last day I raised with the Minister of State the Labour Party policy for regional sporting facilities in towns with populations greater than 5,000 people. It is something the Government should be considering at the moment.I do not think there is a town or village without a sports club or a number of such clubs struggling to find additional playing fields. My home town of Athy is under serious pressure. Thankfully, Kildare County Council has looked at this. While I was on that local authority, I argued for this over many years. We now have 13.5 acres available in Athy for sports. That land will be available once we get the funding, and that is the most important thing. That should be replicated throughout the country. A pilot scheme is needed in relation to this. Athy Camogie Club, for example, has no playing pitch. It depends on the other GAA clubs in the locality, of which there are five in total. If one club has its team playing on the pitch, then the camogie club, which has 250 members, cannot carry out a match or training. They are totally dependent on the goodwill of the five GAA clubs in the town of Athy and surrounding districts. It is a terrific sports club, but 250 young girls who cannot take part in the great sport of camogie is a serious worry for the club and its development. One prospect for getting around that was developing local authority-led sporting facilities. We were lucky enough in the last town development plan to zone 13.5 acres as playing facilities in Athy. That is sitting there at the moment. If the Minister of State wants a pilot project, the town of Athy would be happy to be that pilot project and ensure that Athy Camogie Club has playing facilities and that those 250 young girls-----