Charlie McConalogue

As the Deputy will be aware, for the Paris Olympic cycle 2021-2024, the Government provided a record level of investment of approximately €89 million towards high-performance sport. This was a substantial increase on the €59 million invested for the previous Tokyo cycle. In line with the Government's target of delivering €30 million per annum for high-performance sport by 2027, as indicated in the…

It is fair to recognise we have come a long way and a large part of that has been down to the funding that the Government has put behind our athletes, alongside really good governance and planning and strategic direction, both by Sport Ireland and the national governing bodies but, of course, on top of all of that and most important is the commitment and excellence of our athletes. That contribute…

I acknowledge the Deputy’s ongoing advocacy on behalf of sporting organisations in his constituency. We expect to open the sports facilities fund, which is for clubs up to a maximum of €200,000, next spring with announcements next autumn. It normally runs every two years. We have only ever run two iterations of the large-scale sports infrastructure fund, the first in 2019 and the more recent at th…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I know it is something he is committed to. We have spoken about it before. Encouraging clubs to collaborate particularly with local authorities under a municipal approach could deliver significant benefits to sporting organisations and opportunities for people in local communities to engage in sport across the country and, from the Deputy’s perspective, …

We have asked Sport Ireland to conduct an exercise to assess gaps in particular sporting facilities around the country in order that we get an overall sense of what the facilities are in different areas and are able to factor that into our future sports capital considerations and announcements. My experience, and I am sure the Deputy’s too, is that almost all clubs across all sports are under pres…

We will look at all of this. I want to ensure that our local authorities are thinking seriously about sporting facilities in their planning for an area and their use of land, particularly existing land. I also want to ensure our schools are thinking about how they can collaborate with sporting clubs. While land is a challenge, there is a lot of latent potential in the land we have. In the past, we…

I know from having spoken to the Deputy that he is very committed to the post office network and wants to see it developed. I thank him for raising the matter. As he is aware, the Government is committed to a sustainable An Post and post office network which, as we all know, is a key component of the economic and social infrastructure of communities across the country. The programme for Government…

We will continue to determine how we can ensure we utilise and maximise the post office network in terms of providing face-to-to face services to local communities. As he knows, in many small villages post offices are the last remaining face-to-face service. They provide important services in towns of all sizes, in particular small towns. We want to make sure that we examine how we can utilise the…

We are very clear on the importance of Government funding and the three-year contract to make sure post offices are sustained. I have no doubt we would have seen closures over the past three years if it had not been for the Government stepping up to the mark. We are also very clear on the importance of us continuing to step up and support the network. We have received a submission from the postma…

I thank Deputy Carthy. As he knows, capital support for new swimming pools and the refurbishment of existing pools continues to be provided by the Department through the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF, which to date has allocated €28.9 million to nine swimming pools throughout the country. Investment in a swimming pool for Monaghan, as the Deputy knows, is a matter for the local auth…

The first requirement is for the county council to be proactive. While I certainly will be proactive in trying to ensure we secure funding and deliver swimming pools throughout the country, we will only be able to deal with applications that are on our desk. It is highly likely we will not be able to deal with every application, given the level of demand, but we will be doing our best to see real …

As the Deputy knows, we had a round recently in which almost 30 projects across the country were grant-aided under the large-scale support infrastructure fund, LSSIF. The focus on the short term is to work with all of those applications that were successful in the recent round, as well as with a good number from 2019, to ensure that they are progressing, that funding is getting drawn down and that…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he is aware, the matter in question is the subject of an ongoing Garda investigation and we must remain mindful of that fact during our discussions this evening. It is the view of my Department and that of Sport Ireland that the FAI has engaged appropriately with these allegations. From the newspaper article which the Deputy mentioned, it seems that n…

This is an issue that my Department and Sport Ireland were aware of and had looked at. It is my Department's view, and that of Sport Ireland, that the FAI engaged appropriately with these allegations. The Deputy mentioned a particular newspaper article which has been discussed this evening. It outlines that no complaint was made to, nor any evidence of inappropriate behaviour received by, the FAI …

I thank Deputy Geoghegan for raising this issue. I was delighted to attend the Federation of Irish Sport annual awards last week and see the great progress that so many of our national governing bodies were doing. The Government is committed to continuing the pathway we have been on, which is significantly increasing funding for sports to the national governing bodies but particularly to our clubs…

I thank the Deputy. I am happy to take this matter on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. The Deputy made a valid point, and I thank him for raising this matter. On 25 April 2023, the Government approved additional measures under the Housing for All action plan to incentivise the activation of increased housing supply and to help reduce housing …

One-off housing, particularly in rural areas like Roscommon, no more than my own area, is a really important part of housing output. It is important to the vibrancy of rural communities as well. I understand the argument the Deputy is making in respect of how you tie the contribution people are paying directly to a service that is being delivered in return. I have outlined the position of the Dep…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and allowing me to clarify the current position in relation to pay and conditions for school secretaries. As we know from our engagement with schools in our respective constituencies, the school secretary is very much at the heart of the school and is the key interface between students, parents, school leaders and other staff. Without them, our schools wo…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter on the floor of the House. I will pass on the argument and case he has made to the Minister for Education. As I said, there have been significant advancements, as I think we would all recognise. I laid them out in my earlier reply as well. The implementation of revised salary and annual leave entitlements for school secretaries in the February 2022 agreem…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It is something he has been relentlessly pursuing to ensure it progresses. I confirm that the Department has received supplementary information from the OPW following a request made under section 7B(4) of the European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Arterial Drainage) Regulations 2019. The Department is making arrangements for a public consultat…

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter again here this evening and for his continued advocacy on progressing the scheme. While the delays in the delivery of the scheme are a source of frustration for the Deputy's constituents and all in Blackpool, as he is aware it is imperative that the consent process progresses in a manner that is compliant with the relevant regulations. In the period since …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and I know that Raheny Shamrocks is a club to which he is very committed. His question today relates to the potential for a visit from me to the clubhouse, which is something that both Deputies Heneghan and Brabazon have raised with me. I received an invitation from Deputy Brabazon previously and I responded to the effect that I will be visiting the club …

I know the club has done wonderful work there historically but also in terms of seeking to develop the club in recent years. It was supported in 2018 and 2020 through sports capital grants. I know it purchased a new building in Raheny and is considering how it can develop it having purchased the old Catholic church in Raheny village. I look forward to seeing how we can work with it in the time ahe…

I thank Deputy Ó Muirí for his representations and support for the club. The challenge at a national level is the number of asks. If we look at the large scale infrastructure fund most recently, we can see that there were 96 applications nationally and, of these, 35 projects were successful. This meant that €173 million in total was allocated out of an ask in terms of the numbers that came in of €…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 100, 105, 108 and 137 together. I thank the Deputies for their questions. The programme for Government commits to supporting the sporting community across the country to ensure more people participate, reap the benefits of sport and fulfil their potential from grassroots right up to high-performance level. We are achieving this and will continue to achieve it thro…