Deputy Wall will appreciate that it is critical that we do, and are able to, offer a real alternative to people in different parts of the country to ensure they can walk and travel in a safe environment. This is why there was and is a necessity for pilots such as the Moone to Timolin scheme. I acknowledge that the novel nature of the pilot has caused concerns and frustrations, as have been very clearly articulated an…
TDs / Charlie McConalogue
Charlie McConalogue
Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
105,063
words spoken in the chamber
105,063 as a minister, 0 as a TD
390
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
The record holds no parliamentary questions from them in this Dáil.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 317 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 0 |
| March 2025 | 10 |
| April 2025 | 2 |
| May 2025 | 17 |
| June 2025 | 17 |
| July 2025 | 5 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 0 |
| October 2025 | 6 |
| November 2025 | 15 |
| December 2025 | 14 |
| January 2026 | 25 |
| February 2026 | 13 |
| March 2026 | 23 |
| April 2026 | 3 |
| May 2026 | 31 |
| June 2026 | 55 |
| July 2026 | 7 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 11 |
| October 2026 | 63 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 263 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Donegal 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media 29 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport 2 June 2025 to now
I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this important matter for our county on the floor of the Dáil. I am glad to be taking it on behalf of the Minister for Transport who has been in London since yesterday meeting Cabinet counterparts in the British Government. I have been authorised to take this Topical Issue on his behalf and a number of other Topical Issues on behalf of a number of other Ministers who are not in the …
Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher and I, along with Deputy Doherty and all the other Oireachtas Members from the county, are at one on this in terms of trying to find a way forward and make sure there are flight times in place that suit and meet the needs of the people of our county. Deputy Doherty will see from the response how this evolved. We both heard at yesterday's meeting that the tender that was issued was the sa…
I thank Deputies Byrne and Guirke for raising this matter this morning. Under section 46 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, the Minister for Culture, Communication and Sport, with the concurrence of the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, approves any superannuation schemes submitted by An Post, including proposals to increase pensions and de…
I thank Deputies Byrne and Guirke. I have outlined the timelines. While these pension increases were to apply with regard to An Post from 1 January 2025, the agreement relating to the increase was not agreed between the unions and An Post until September 2025. It was only at that point that it was agreed. The agreement went to the Department at the end of October, as has been outlined. Governance mechanisms and the n…
As people can see from the outline I provided that we have been acting very promptly. I do not believe it could have been done in a shorter timeframe. NewERA had to do its assessment, look at the fund and the request relating to it and make recommendations to the various Ministers. As soon as I got it, I signed off on it. It has gone to the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I have no doubt he will act very promptly. Our…
I thank Deputy Byrne for the question. I know these are funds she has a strong interest in.
As the Deputy knows, my Department operates two capital funding programmes for sport, namely the community sports facilities fund, CSFF, and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. Sporting organisations can apply directly for CSFF funding while applications to the LSSIF must be made through either a national govern…
Our objective is to try to make the application process for both the sports facilities fund and the large-scale infrastructure fund as accessible and workable for clubs as possible. Obviously, when it comes to the large-scale infrastructure fund, the grants are of a much more significant scale - into the millions - and there is therefore more involved in the application process. We take on board the views of local au…
It is something that we bore in mind. We are aiming at having a new round of the sports capital fund by early summer. We will certainly be taking on board the feedback we receive before then from sports clubs around the country and Deputies on trying to make sure that it is as accessible as possible. I know there have been challenges in the past. The smaller the organisation, the more challenging and daunting it can …
I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for his question on an important issue. As we know, everyone involved in sport in any capacity, regardless of age, should be able to enjoy an experience that is free from any form of abuse. The creation of a culture that promotes the safety and welfare of all involved must be at the core of the operations of all of our national governing bodies of sport. Sport Ireland, as the authority taske…
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It is crucial that everyone has a security and safety support network around them to ensure they can safely participate in sport. This takes a lot of effort by our clubs to make sure those structures are in place. It also forms a key part of the Government's work, with Sport Ireland, to ensure support and guidance are provided to NGBs. That is fully expected and required of…
Sport Ireland sets the criteria. It has a strong set of criteria for child safeguarding compliance. It is a compulsory requirement for NGBs and a critical element of NGB funding. These criteria are reviewed twice annually. NGBs are required to submit their child safeguarding statements to Sport Ireland for review. Sport Ireland expects all funded organisations, as does the Government which funds Sport Ireland, to mai…
I thought it was the next question, which is in the Deputy's name. I thank Deputy O'Meara very much for raising the matter this evening. We both know that inclusion and diversity in sport are key priorities for this Government. Despite recent progress, there is an enduring participation gap between persons with either a long-term illness or a disability and those without an illness or a disability.
The Irish Sports …
The Deputy is right to focus on it. We have seen progress on the participation of those with a disability in sport but the gap has not narrowed because participation has also increased among the general adult and child populations, for which we can be thankful. The gap has remained, however. It is a particular focus for the Government. We are going to look to see how we can address that gap further because it is simp…
I thank Deputies O'Meara, Byrne and Ó Murchú. The Deputies have put an emphasis on access and support for those with disabilities. The Government is very focused on making progress in this area. Budget 2025 was the first to provide specific disability funding to national governing bodies through Sport Ireland. That was important. We have seen the appointment of a Sport Ireland disability lead, which is really importa…
I thank Deputy O'Meara for raising this and for his advocacy on behalf of clubs in his constituency. As he will know, the programme for Government commits to maintaining sports funding to get more people participating in all levels of sport, particularly targeting cohorts in society where there are lower than average participation levels. The community sport facilities fund provides grants to assist in the developmen…
It is certainly my objective and that of the Minister, Deputy O’Donovan, in terms of the next round to make sure that we have it as amenable to clubs as possible and as practical as possible for them to be able to apply. Last time around with the appeals, almost all of the clubs that applied were supported. They were given the opportunity through the appeals process to have any issues corrected. The objective here ha…
I look forward to seeing Deputy O'Meara in Tipperary. He has been speaking to me about that already.
In response to Deputy Byrne, the objective will be to ensure we are looking to see where the need is greatest. We are gathering that information at the moment to make sure that, when the round is announced, it is focusing on the areas of greatest need. Having said that, I think we would all accept that the great work…
We are looking at another round then, certainly within the course of this Government, but it is to be decided.
There are two capital funding programmes for sport, namely, the community sports facilities fund, CSFF, and the large scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. In total, over €1.5 million was allocated to swimming under the 2023 community sports facilities fund round as part of an overall CSFF investment of over €3.7 million in the last ten years. Swimming may also have benefited from allocations to multisport projects…
I thank the Deputy for raising the gap analysis report. On what we are going to do about it, the first thing we did was to fund that report. We funded Swim Ireland to carry it out because we want to assess what the situation is across the country, what the level of service provision is, what the current infrastructure is like, where the gaps are most acute and what issues there are with existing infrastructure. The r…
We will certainly look at all options. We need local authorities to step up and get into this space. It has been a challenging space. It has been challenging for pools to be run profitably. That has seen local authorities shy away and has led to some of the gaps we have. We need to see them step up. Certainly, the Department, working with Swim Ireland and Sport Ireland, will look to try to ensure that is the case as …
I thank the Deputy for raising this and for his advocacy on behalf of the development of facilities in west Wicklow. He will have heard my previous response in relation to the support available through the community sport facilities fund and the large scale sport infrastructure fund. On Baltinglass, I confirm that no application for funding was received under either the LSSIF or the CSFF for a sports centre there. We…
In the most recent round of the community sport facilities fund, we saw €7 million allocated to sporting projects across County Wicklow. I know this is a project the Deputy is clear is very much needed and is working closely with Wicklow County Council in relation to it. I am very open to continuing to work with him to see how we can ensure that as we open future rounds of the CSFF this year, and are looking towards …
I recognise the work of the county council in working with the group. The future provision of sporting facilities is something we want to see being done on a collaborative basis as much as possible, particularly with local authorities trying to bring sporting clubs together to ensure there is synergy in the utilisation of existing land and the investment in facilities. I acknowledge the merits of the project the Depu…