Sports Funding Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07 ============================================================ Séamus McGrath (FF), Cork South-Central I very much welcome the Minister of State's commitment in relation to these sports schemes. They are critically important. We are a proud sporting nation, as the Minister of State outlined. It is critical that we continue to invest in sporting facilities. There are many sporting clubs, community groups and national governing bodies waiting for the sports funds to open for applications. I see the importance of sporting clubs in my community. They are the thread that holds the community together. They provide a very positive outlet for people of all ages, particularly young people. It is essential in the world we are living in that we provide this positive outlet. Sport provides immeasurable benefits from a health point of view, both physical and mental health. It is critical, therefore, that we continue to invest in sporting facilities. I welcome the commitment the Minister of State gave and the fact that the community sports facilities fund is likely to open for applications in June. I also asked about the large-scale sports infrastructure fund. If the Minister of State or the Minister could give us some clarification in relation to that, it would be welcome. --- 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/2026-05-07/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-07