Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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156. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the engagements her Department has had with the Department of Education on the recommencement of inter-school sport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37689/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The organisation and delivery of inter-school sport competition is a matter for the Department of Education and the educational institutions concerned. I have no statutory role to exercise in that context.

School sport is an important part of the overall Irish sporting landscape and makes a positive contribution to the promotion and achievement of more physically active lifestyles by its participants. My Department maintains an ongoing relationship and dialogue with the Department of Education in relation to the pursuit and implementation of respective policy aims. The Department of Education is also represented on the Sports Leadership Group, which I chair. Following discussion at a recent meeting of this Group, I have requested that Department provide an update report on how COVID-19 has impacted on participation in physical activity and sport at school level at the next meeting of the Group, tentatively earmarked for mid-December.

The timescale and manner of recommencement of inter-school sport in the context of the current pandemic is a matter to be considered by Government in the context of the Living with COVID-19 Framework for Restrictive Measures, published in mid-September. This Framework sets out the approach that the Government intends to take in the management of the pandemic over the period to mid-2021.

Given the current epidemiological situation with high incidence of disease, widespread community transmission, and considerable numbers of hospitalisations and deaths, it has been necessary to put in place very significant restrictions to arrest the current trajectory of the disease and break transmission chains. This means asking people to stay at home and eliminating as much activity and contacts as is possible to ensure that opportunities for the virus to transmit are minimised, while allowing essential activities to continue. Unfortunately, this means minimising discretionary activities such as non-elite sporting competitions and matches which are not permitted to take place in Levels 3, 4 and 5 of the Framework.

The current Level 5 restrictions will continue until 2 December. The suite of measures to be applied thereafter, including for the sport and education sectors, will be decided by Government on the basis of the prevailing public health situation and in the context of the Framework published in September.