Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet Michael Ryan from Templemore, County Tipperary. In fact, his son, Shane, was an intern in my office last year. He is a very fine young man and it was lovely to meet his dad. Michael Ryan came here because yesterday was International Stuttering Awareness Day. The day was marked by the Irish Stammering Association and its slogan, "Go with the Flow". It is important that we have a global observance that is dedicated to raising awareness about stammering. Michael told me about the time he met President Biden in respect of this important issue. We must promote understanding and support for individuals who stammer. The aim of the international day is to destigmatise stammering, provide resources for those impacted, and promote speech therapy and communication skills. It is important that all of us in this House support the initiative.

During the week I saw that Newbridge St. Brigid's Community Games is 50 years old this year. The national organisation started in 1967. It is a wonderful organisation, as we all know, as it supports young people to get involved in various types of sports, entertainment and art activities. Some very well known people have come through the community games system such as Sonia O'Sullivan and Eamonn Coghlan, my cousin, Tommy Bowe, and Ronan O'Gara and, indeed, actors like Saoirse Ronan and Colin Farrell.

In Newbridge, the volunteers who started the community games there 50 years ago are still the volunteers today. I refer to people like Teresa Harrison, Michael Donohue, Peter O'Neill and Rita Timmons. They are incredible people. Newbridge St. Brigid's Community Games is still going strong. It is really important that we give a big shout out to them as they celebrate 50 years and, indeed, a big shout out to all of the wonderful community games volunteers around the country who have given so much to generations of people.

Yesterday, I was delighted to meet a delegation from the Riverbank Arts Centre. Paul Davis is the chair and Donnchadh O'Neill is a member of the board. The Riverbank Arts Centre is County Kildare's arts theatre and arts centre, which is based in Newbridge. Thirty years ago there was no county arts centre and no arts centre in Newbridge, so a group of us got together to lobby for one. Mary Lenihan, Peter Hussey and I were the main people involved and we were absolutely thrilled when we got this centre. A lot of work now needs to be done to make it more accessible. The Riverbank Arts Centre did get a small grant two years ago. It is going to the Part 8 process now but we really need to get national funding, as well as support from Kildare County Council and the Arts Council. I honestly believe that facilities such as these need to be able to access grants similar to the sports capital grants and that is what I call for today.