Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy Leader to call the Minister for sport to the Chamber. I wish to discuss the outcomes of the sports capital grant which has been allocated for the past five years, with an emphasis on whether the Department has audited the outcomes of the huge investment of nearly €500 million.This investment was made under the pillars of what the sports capital funding was set up for, which were inclusion, diversity, women in sport, the environment and impacts on the community.

The reason I am asking for this to be given consideration is that I want all sports organisations in receipt of these moneys to ensure people with additional needs are able to access the facilities and that the facilities are able to cater for people with additional needs. I do not want the past five years of sports capital funding to have been a tick-the-box exercise. I want every club which signed service level agreements with organisations, whereby those organisations willing to participate enabled the clubs to make a wholesome application, to have delivered that wholesome application to the very end. Community played a large part in the previous round of sports capital funding with a new tier of up to €500,000. What impact did this have in communities that worked with education? Are there lessons we could take from this for the next round of sports capital funding so that other communities could get on board? I ask the Deputy Leader to ensure the Minister for sport comes before the House so that we can see the outcomes of the sports capital funding.