Sports Facilities Dail Éireann — 2026-07-14 ============================================================ Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal The objective of the Department of sport is to fund projects to deliver sporting outcomes and increase participation. In my previous response, I outlined the number of projects that have been funded across County Cork. Under the most recent round of the community sports facilities fund, the figure was 347. There have been just over 2,000 over the past 20 years or more. I will certainly seek clarity on the situation regarding this land. The information I have is that Cork County Council has leased the land to Riverstown Football Club. I will seek further clarity on that. The use of the land is obviously primarily a matter for Cork County Council to decide upon. From our engagement with the FAI, I am clear that the funding that was initially allocated in 2020 is not to be used on this particular site. It is going to be utilised on a different site in conjunction with University College Cork. We are going to facilitate that as long as it happens. We are intensively engaged with the FAI to make sure that funding delivers new football facilities that can be of benefit to people who want to participate in and enjoy football in Cork. We want to see that happen. I absolutely agree that this site should be used for sporting activity. The information I have is that it is being leased to Riverstown FC, which is working with Cork County Council to develop a multisport facility. I will certainly be following up to clarify the points the Deputy has raised here this evening. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan has also raised the issue. Everyone within the local area wants to see this land utilised for sporting activity. As Minister of State with responsibility for sport, it is also something I want to see. I will certainly work with the Deputy to do anything we can to see this moved on. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-14/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-14