Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is what we said. To be honest, I hear these stories and then when I ask on the ground, people say, "It is grand here", and I know it is not. I am hearing that in the Seanad today. I have to say, though, I was talking to some representatives of the Camogie Association who told me that camogie clubs have been more involved this year with the sports capital programme than ever before in terms of signing licence agreements and all of that. They attributed that to this rule I brought in for sports capital, so I hope that has some impact. That is very important.

That also relates to having more women on the national boards which, contrary to some speculation, is not just for one sport but for every sporting organisation in the country. I welcome the decision of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association at the weekend to unanimously agree to change its constitution to allow for that. Almost all sports are there. It is 39% women on boards overall now in sporting organisations. We want to get up to 40% and I think that will happen.

I heard all the Senators' representations about sports capital and the LSSIF in their own areas. The last time, there was sufficient funding to make that happen. I certainly urge all colleagues to make that case to our colleagues in the Department of public expenditure in order that they are aware of the importance of this.

The issue of FAI funding was raised. At the moment, there is a sum of €6.8 million outstanding to the FAI from Sport Ireland for general funding, including a special allocation I made this year of €500,000 for women in sport in response to the Ireland team qualifying for their first ever world cup. We want to get that money to the FAI as soon as possible. Sport Ireland paused that money in order that the KOSI consultancy firm could conduct an audit to consider whether a memorandum of understanding, MOU, condition between the Government and the FAI regarding CEO remuneration was embedded in the FAI in 2022. I have spoken about this before, including in the Seanad. Last week, I met members of Sport Ireland to discuss the FAI's response to the KOSI audit. I acknowledge that the FAI has signalled its willingness to implement the recommendations set out in the audit. To be fair to the FAI, it has implemented almost everything in the memorandum of understanding. I want to say that. It has been 95% and that is really important. We are working things through in the Department in terms of the FAI's response but it is certainly my intention to be able to finalise this matter relatively soon.

The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and I just have to consider all the issues that have been brought before us by Sport Ireland and, indeed, the FAI's response. However, I am expecting and hoping for a positive outcome to this soon. It is important to remember that the FAI at the moment is getting double the funding it would ordinarily get because of the memorandum of understanding. Additionally, up to last year, we were also essentially paying the rent or payment that is due on the Aviva Stadium. That is not continuing. We want to make sure the FAI can stand on its own two feet. It is quite likely that there will be a continuation of the MOU path next year if the FAI needs and wants it.We can enter into discussions about that once this particular issue is resolved.

I will speak generally about the issue of inclusion. Where there is inclusion of people with disabilities and indeed facilities for women in sport, they are given extra marks on sports capital. That is very important. Members have mentioned many projects I have visited and I am glad to have seen them. A point made by Senators Wall, Dooley and others, and one I have also made, is that we need more sports facilities. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and I have been working on a plan to do that. That is really important. Some people criticise the sports capital programme, but overall it has been hugely successful. However, we do need more sports facilities. I am deeply conscious of that. We have started work at an official and ministerial level and I have had a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to progress this. That is something we would like to see some progress on. Local authorities have a role to play as well. In some cases, such as Tallaght Stadium, which Senator Warfield mentioned, that is a joint venture between the local authority and the Government. The Government has funded the overall Tallaght urban renewable project, which includes the new stand at Tallaght Stadium. I think we funded that to 75% and South Dublin County Council has put in 25%. I know Dalymount Park and Bohemian Football Club will be looking to Dublin City Council for a new stadium in the next round of the large-scale sports infrastructure fund, and I have no doubt a similar model will be part of a renewal of that general area.

The issue of volunteers was raised. I thank all our volunteers, and the Senators have acknowledged them here today. Sport could not exist without volunteers. The Louth local sports partnership, LSP, had the idea to have a volunteer awards night, and that was brilliant. I know other local sports partnerships will be looking at that too. This year, I attended the national sports volunteers awards, which is run by the Federation of Irish Sport. As far as I know, at the moment they are open for nominations. I am not sure if the date has closed yet, but Members can check that for themselves and if they know anyone in their communities, they should nominate them.

The number of volunteers has declined since Covid-19, so when I meet people or when I speak to groups of volunteers, I ask them, if they have not been in touch with their club or if they have drifted away a bit, to get back in touch, ring somebody up and get back to being involved. There will be no difficulty in getting back to being involved. We want them to be involved. There is a strategy being developed by Sport Ireland at the moment on volunteers in sport. That will have an impact.

The UEFA Euro 2028 was mentioned. I will not get into the day-to-day politics of it, but I will say it is really important and symbolic that on the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement we, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales will all be working together on an equal basis. Northern Ireland football is an equal partner in this venture as well. It is very important they grasp the opportunity, which I think they will. The reality is there will be big games in Belfast as well as in Dublin. They will be transformative for Belfast, Northern Ireland and the island. It is important and symbolic for the Irish Football Association, IFA, the FAI and Welsh and the Scottish football associations to all be working together, and we are very keen on a legacy benefit from that. As with all major sporting events we support, this is not just about the event itself, which will have an important tourism benefit. Apart from that, it is important more people will actually play the various sports.

Senator Warfield and others mentioned multi-use and multi-sports facilities. To be clear, they are already prioritised for sports capital through the large-scale sports infrastructure fund. If, for example, a club has a sports facility it does not let anybody else use, it will not gain marks in the scoring scheme. On the other hand, if it has these licence agreements with other clubs that will allow them to use it and include various other sports, that club will gain marks and that will give it an advantage in the area of sports capital.

To be clear about the large-scale sports infrastructure fund and the sports capital, I hope to announce the equipment grants in the early part of the new year and to announce the sports capital grants a bit later. I hope I will announce the large-scale sports infrastructure fund top-up in the coming weeks. There are one or two issues to tie up on that, but I do hope to announce a new round of the large-scale sports infrastructure fund in conjunction with that. We will wait and see, but people are discussing that with me.