I strongly support my colleague Deputy O'Meara on this. The Oireachtas committee on sport has considered this as a serious issue. When the Minister of State looks to the next round of sports capital funding, we urge him to include this as a factor in deciding on funding. One of our local soccer clubs, Courtown Hibs, runs very inclusive soccer training for children and young people who are neurodivergent or who have physical disabilities or special needs. On the first Saturday of every month, Gorey parkrun runs a particularly inclusive parkrun event, inviting people from Advocates for Autism, Special Olympics Ireland and other groups to take part. It is a model that has been followed by other parkrun organisers. In decisions being made on the next round of sports capital funding, those clubs and organisations that have an inclusive approach at their heart should be recognised.

Sentiment score: 0.22

I welcome the announcement that there will be a further round of the sports capital scheme later. I commend the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy O’Donovan, on their commitment to the development of not just clubs, but the critical role they play within our communities. I would ask that, in the announcements, regard would be had to rapidly growing communities. As the Minister of State will appreciate, with rapidly growing communities, there is a demand for space. It is right that the Government’s top priority be the provision of housing, but we also need to provide sporting, cultural and community facilities. That is critical. I would also ask the Minister of State to consider what is often a problem for minority sports, that being, where they do not own their own lands or have access to long leases on land or premises. I would ask that, when the next round opens, there is some imaginative way to try to facilitate those minority sports.

Sentiment score: 0.11

I speak in strong support of Deputy O'Meara's question in this regard. I have regularly asked the Department of education what facilities are specifically going to be provided for sport, particularly for new builds, but also in terms of existing funding streams that can be made available to schools to get sports funding. I look at somewhere like Riverchapel National School in County Wexford. Incidentally, it is the primary school of the Minister of State's colleague and mine, the Minister, Deputy Lawless. It has over 300 pupils and it has a hard tarmac and flawed play area at the back. It is not a real sporting facility. The Minister of State needs to tell the Department of education that there has to be a more integrated approach to the provision of sport in education at primary and second levels.

Sentiment score: 0.19