Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the Seanad this evening. I thank him for coming to County Louth a few weeks ago when he met with more than 90 award recipients on the first annual Louth local sports partnership volunteer awards. To me, that is why we are all here and why this whole debate is so important. It is about the volunteers and the people. Approximately 90 people were nominated by their clubs. They go in day in, day out and get very little thanks and very little glory. It is usually the clubs and the teams that get the glory while the workers stand back with smiles on their faces. It was really important for the Louth local sports partnership to celebrate the volunteers that night. The Minister of State also attended St. Patrick's GAA Club, whose property got absolutely decimated during the recent floods in north Louth. I thank him for his support on that.

Much has been said this evening about the importance of sports funding and supporting it. There are, however, a few things I want to highlight in the very short time we have in terms of diversity and inclusion. In my local clubs at home, it would be the All Stars programmes and in Glenmore Athletic Club, in which I am very much involved; it is our inclusive athletics training. To be able to get the national governing bodies very much involved in pushing that and in pushing competition for the likes of athletics clubs is important. If there is support to run competitions and sports for all children, this should absolutely be encouraged and supported. We in Glenmore Athletic Club do that in our competitions. I hope the Minister of State will be looking favourably on our grant application in which we are seeking to improve our six-lane racetrack to an eight-lane racetrack and get it redone and recovered.

We have so many positive things in sport, but I also want to touch on women in sport. It is an absolutely abominable and disgraceful situation when sportswomen have to pay for access to county GAA facilities. They are not able to get access to a gym and are scrambling for facilities. It is absolutely disgraceful. In this day and age, when our Louth women are just as successful as our Louth men, it is absolutely terrible that they would not have equal access to the equipment and facilities that the men have.

I have a lot more to say but I will talk to the Minister of State again.