Sport and Recreational Development
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I thank the Deputy. I agree chess is a great game, one I played from an early age.
Any change that is made to the definition of "sport" within the legislation will have repercussions, not just for chess, and will have to be considered very carefully. We do not have any plans to change it but we are just coming to the end of the period covered by our first ever ten-year national policy for sport, which has been very impactful in bringing sport forward and improving participation across all sports in the country. From this autumn onwards, we will be doing the public consultation to have a new policy agreed by the end of next year to see us through the following ten years. We really want this to continue to be transformative for sport. The issues and their full implications should rightfully be considered in that context. I am happy to have the discussion and I thank the Deputy for raising the matter this morning.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11