Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for facilitating this discussion and for his work to date in this area. Sport is the great connector of communities and civic life. It brings people and communities together. It can be such a force for good in terms of both physical and mental health.

We need standardisation of provision of sporting facilities across the country. One town or village that has a competent community group should not receive all the different funding for various types of infrastructure while a place with a larger population that does not have its act together receives very little. This is important because there are areas of lower socioeconomic advantage that have less of a community skill set in terms of drawing down funding to develop sporting infrastructure. We need an audit of all facilities and where there are blackspots, the State must intervene.

Young children should not have to rely on whether, on the part of volunteers or the local authority, there are competencies within a community and whether people have an interest in a particular sport or a certain type of facility. We should have a standard basic level of sporting infrastructure provision in towns, including all-weather, full-sized GAA pitches, all-weather soccer pitches and skateboard parks. These basic standard amenities should be rolled out. We should not always wait for an application to come from a certain place.

My town of Ballina has a population of more than 10,000. For one reason or another, we do not have an all-weather, full-sized GAA pitch or an all-weather soccer pitch. There would be a significant impact on both those sporting codes if we had those facilities in an area where it rains twice as much as it does on the east coast. Right along the western seaboard, we need sporting infrastructure that is properly accessible, under floodlighting, throughout the year. We must ensure there is access to such sporting infrastructure for everyone.

I was never too interested in facilities like skateboard parks but there is a cohort of 10% to 15% of people who would like them. There may be hidden talents we cannot unearth because the facilities are not there to enable people to do so. Skateboarding is just one example of many. Covered outdoor basketball courts would allow young people to play that sport throughout winter. Creating a plan for the provision of those amenities would have such a positive impact.

The Mayo under-16s ladies' team are playing in the All-Ireland final this evening against Kerry in Nenagh, County Tipperary. I wish all the players and the management the best of luck. I hope there is adequate sporting infrastructure in towns and villages throughout Mayo and right across the country for the next generation of players.