Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will explain again because the Minister of State was on his phone when I last explained. There are five clubs in Athy and they are beholden to those five clubs to use the facilities. The problem in Athy, which is being replicated in other places I will mention, is that those clubs are at full capacity. The pitches they have they need for their own teams. That is why we are at capacity in Athy and it is not just Athy.

I know the Minister of State travelled to Kildare recently on a number of occasions and one of the places he went to was Kildare Town AFC. I happened to be there the night before he was there. They are looking for a full-sized Astroturf pitch. The night I was there, they were turning young people away from the door because their facilities are not good enough. It is sad to see young people being turned from the door because they had to concentrate on teams that were playing that weekend. That is why we are asking the Minister of State to look at facilities in towns with a population greater than 5,000. Athy is like Kildare town, Monasterevin and all the other towns in south Kildare. I am sure it is the same in Meath. When I talk to people in Carlow, Laois, Offaly and indeed Meath they are having the same problems. It is something we should take away. The last time I spoke to the Minister of State about this, he said he would go away and look at it,

I want to mention the sports partnerships. The Minister of State mentioned them before. They do great work, particularly, as Senator O’Reilly said, in the context of disability sports. We have to concentrate on that and make sport accessible for all. The Kildare Sports Partnership and all other sports partnerships do great work. One aspect of the funding is indoor bowls. I am sure it is a minority sport but camaraderie is built up in communities through indoor bowls. There is one now in every rural community in south Kildare. They play in their league and all that. It is brilliant to see people coming out of their homes. Rural isolation is being helped by all this and that is something we need to keep funding.

The FAI was mentioned. I was lucky enough to watch a thrilling FAI ladies' cup final on Sunday last, when Athlone Town came out on top on penalties against Shelbourne. I was taken by Michael O’Connor of Athlone Town afterwards and his assessment of funding in this country when he said that his club is drowning in relation to it. Senator Cassells has outlined the issues he has, and which I am hearing as well, regarding board membership and the funding of the FAI. There is an opportunity this evening for us all to hear where the Minister of State with responsibility for sport is on funding the FAI. I would welcome it if he could let us know what his and Government’s prospect is in respect of funding the FAI. This is so important. Those young girls who played in Tallaght last Sunday are role models for other girls across the country. We all applauded Katie McCabe and the Irish women’s team when they went to Australia.Every young girl’s dream is to be like Katie McCabe and captain their country in a world cup. However, they also need the facilities to do that. More importantly, as Senator Cassells said, they need the funding to ensure the grassroots. My major concern is that the grassroots of football and soccer in the country can survive. That is absolutely essential for all those clubs.

To finish up, I would like the Minister of State to comment. I note he has come back to me on them using other sports facilities but that is not always available in relation to the Labour Party policy we are proposing. The local authority-led social enterprise idea that is much replicated in the UK could work in Ireland. The Minister of State knows the costs of land and building. I think the situation is now coming and that is why I am asking for a full rethink on sports funding in this country. We need to look at other ways of funding sports rather than, for example, giving one club in one town funding while the other two or three clubs lose out. That is important to say.

To finish up, the last time the Minister of State was in he stated that probably this round of the sports capital funding will be the last round and he is looking to come up with some other type or model of sports capital funding. Where is he with that? Does he foresee sports capital funding as it sits at the moment continuing or are he and Government looking at it another way?