Report of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-24 ============================================================ Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach The Minister of State is welcome. I too acknowledge Senators Ní Chuilinn and Harmon for bringing this motion before the House today. It is very timely. It is a very important issue to raise. All of the Oireachtas committees always do great work. The publication of reports with recommendations is really at the core of the work we do in this House. It is where we do not have the theatrics of the Chambers or the influence of social media. It is where people sit down to discuss the issues and see what recommendations they can collectively come up with that will improve facilities and the experience of the next generations. I acknowledge that. At the same time, I will acknowledge how far we have come. I still do not consider myself that old but, when I am standing on the side of a soccer or GAA pitch with kids, I look at the facilities we have throughout this country and at the investment that has been made. The strides made in the past 20 years have been unbelievable. It is money well spent. Every penny that is spent in the area of sport, inclusion and accessibility saves a significant amount on the other side, the health spend in the country. We have to acknowledge that. When I think of inclusion in sport, I am always brought back to Lisnamult community park in Roscommon. It is a community that finds a solution to any problem that is put in front of it. When the new sports hub was opened there, it was one of the first to include a fully wheelchair-accessible Changing Places toilet. If the Minister is ever down in Roscommon, something I will get to in a moment, he should go and see it because it is a blueprint all community facilities should follow as regards accessible toilets. It has a ceiling hoist, height-adjustable changing benches for adults and children, and the usual features to be found in accessible toilets. Those involved foresaw the issues based on the needs presented by the people who were using the outdoor facilities. Funding was recently awarded for an outdoor basketball and hockey court. They realised that, since we live in Ireland, outdoor facilities are not always accessible for use by everybody on a regular basis. Given the Special Olympics teams that use the facilities, they realised an overhead cover for this outdoor court would be needed. While it is open on the sides and the fresh air is able to get through, it is a covered outdoor court. They are currently in the process of building an athletics track. It is hoped this will mean that the figure of nine members representing Roscommon in the Ireland summer games this year will be doubled for the next games. It is worth pointing out that Roscommon represented Ireland in European swimming championships recently. There were four athletes from Roscommon. It was the only team in the country to participate in those European swimming championships. We are giving people opportunities to participate in sport that were never there before. Previous speakers have mentioned issues of inclusion within the GAA. Last Saturday morning, I was in the centre of excellence in Bekan, just outside Knock and Ballyhaunis. There were 82 under-10s girls teams invited to participate in the final blitz of the year. Unfortunately, only 78 of them showed up but just imagine the logistics of trying to organise and facilitate a blitz of games for 78 teams from Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim. What an experience and what a day it was. For those young girls, experiencing the world-class facilities at the Connacht centre of excellence in Bekan will have them enthused and excited to go back next year when the season starts again. Members have mentioned Katie Taylor. We know that some 1.6 million people watched. I think it is the largest television audience Westlife has ever had. We were watching because we had a true Irish icon of sport, Katie Taylor, in her final fight in the GAA headquarters, Croke Park. What an experience it was. We will all remember where we were for it. That should be the benchmark for televising female sport, something the report mentions. It would be remiss of me not to mention the European elite boxing championships taking place in Sofia at the moment. Two ladies from Castlerea, County Roscommon, Lisa and Aoife O'Rourke, are participating. Lisa is in the 85 kg final tonight and Aoife is in the 75kg final tomorrow. No matter what happens, those ladies will be welcomed back to Roscommon and Castlerea based on their performance and honesty in the ring. If they were to stop tomorrow morning, the number of young kids they have newly introduced to sport would still be something to be commended. The only reason I have not mentioned the Castlerea swimming pool, which the Minister of State is very familiar with, until now is because I did not want to get people excited to know that he goes swimming there once in a while. Funding was recently accessed for water-pressure powered lifts to enable wheelchair access, allowing people to avail of those facilities. If we are to take anything from this report, it is that we need to continue with such investment. We need to strive for better. We need to take best practice examples like the Changing Places toilet in the Lisnamult sports facility and ensure that every facility has the same. We must ensure that every little girl has access to every facility her male counterparts are entitled to access. Anybody who has a disability must also have access. Inclusion is a key criterion in the community sports facility fund that is to be opened. Let us consider that another element of enacting this report. I wish the Minister of State well with that. --- 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/seanad/2026-09-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-24