Questions

1. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport given the significant deficiencies in Ireland’s swimming pool infrastructure and the pressing need for urgent investment and strategic planning to ensure every Irish person has access to swimming facilities, to outline in detail the way in which he intends to action this; the timelines for same; and if he will make a statement on the matt…

40. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport in light of his Department aiming to open the new round of the CSFF in the first half of 2026, when the new guidelines will be published in advance to include updated eligibility and likely assessment criteria in this next round; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32741/26]

58. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport to provide an update on the progress of a potential arts capital grant scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32742/26]

554. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will consider undertaking a needs assessment of community infrastructure, including sports and recreational spaces, across the Drogheda region and its environs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28313/26]

925. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if the next round of Sports Capital Programme, which is due to open in late May, early June 2026, will link areas to the Pobal Deprivation Index; will the new programme continue to allocate funding dependent on a club's location (details supplied) and link this to the index or will all clubs in County Carlow be granted 95% of the total …

131. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if the proposal to introduce a social media ban for under 16s has been abandoned; and if so, the reasons. [16790/26]

133. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the details of the status of the delivery for use of the new ICT system to replace the existing sports capital programme grant management systems, OSCAR; the total spend on the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16791/26]

152. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the details of the proper legal basis that the digital wallet has for mandatory use by citizens to access online platforms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16806/26]

171. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport when the new round of the community sports facilities fund grants will open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16807/26]

176. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the details of which of the Digital Ireland 20 high-level objectives and 90 specific deliverables his Department will be responsible for; the budgetary allocations that will be made for them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16805/26]

178. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if his Department will continue to independently progress the proposed online age-verification tool, the Government digital wallet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16803/26]

190. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the details of Departmental spending to date on the proposed online age-verification tool, the Government digital wallet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16804/26]

130. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the total amount of both LSSIF and CSFF funding drawn down in 2025; the list of all groups that received funding, in tabular form; if, in light of the arduous grant applications process and difficulties organisations have found with the LSSIF-CSFF process, he has recognised this difficulty, resulting in future rounds being simplified; i…

132. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the steps he will take to ensure stronger oversight, better value for money and improved transparency in the use of public funds across the arts, culture, and media sectors (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4110/26]

494. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if the planned nationwide survey of children about their online experiences will include questions on gambling and gambling-related harm; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73587/25]

188. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if the Telecommunications Response and Resilience Group (T-RRG), chaired by his Department will initiate a plan to ensure telecommunications poles are protected in future storms by identifying dangerous trees and initiating a tree cutting plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66515/25]

189. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if the Telecommunications Response and Resilience Group (T-RRG) has identified measures to ensure that there are no future extended losses of connectivity for vulnerable people using a health monitoring/pendant alarm, as happened after storm Éowyn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66516/25]

26. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport to ensure that female sporting organisations receive appropriate attention, recognition and adequate funding from Sport Ireland (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64396/25]

67. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will act on the call by an organisation (details supplied) for the removal of the Israeli Basketball Association from the FIBA; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64397/25]

479. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport when the sports capital and equipment programme and large-scale sport infrastructure fund will open for new applications for much-needed funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64399/25]

480. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport when he will publish the revised general scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2023; if he will provide empirical data to back his statements that he will not be implementing all of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Culture, Communications and Sports recommendations on the Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6440…

449. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport to provide the Abridged Estimates Volume for Budget 2026 for Vote 33, including the provisional sub-head and programme level allocations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57013/25]

1. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport in view of the global gindings report produced from the Double Pass audit into the League of Ireland academy system, which benchmarks Ireland significantly behind other nations, the plans he has initiated to support academy development; if he will commit to the significant funding increase in this area to allow our academies grow to meet …

27. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport his plans to ensure the provision of playing pitches, courts and sports facilities in new residential or mixed-use developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52249/25]

34. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport his plans to improve the condition of existing playing pitches, courts and sports facilities in community use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52250/25]