I thank the Deputy. It is appropriate that we discuss the issue today, given the good progress we have seen. All of us welcome the commitment of €50 million from the British Government. Let us now continue to move forward. The stadium has been a tremendous loss to Belfast, the province and the island. It has fallen into disrepair and is not being used. We want it to be rebuilt and redeveloped so that its full potential is realised. We look forward to working with everyone to achieve the objective.

As the Deputy will be aware, for the Paris Olympic cycle 2021-2024, the Government provided a record level of investment of approximately €89 million towards high-performance sport. This was a substantial increase on the €59 million invested for the previous Tokyo cycle. In line with the Government's target of delivering €30 million per annum for high-performance sport by 2027, as indicated in the national sports policy, Sport Ireland has announced that €27 million will be invested in high-performance sport over th…

It is fair to recognise we have come a long way and a large part of that has been down to the funding that the Government has put behind our athletes, alongside really good governance and planning and strategic direction, both by Sport Ireland and the national governing bodies but, of course, on top of all of that and most important is the commitment and excellence of our athletes. That contributed to us having our most successful Olympic Games ever in Paris last year with a medal haul across a number of discipline…

I acknowledge the Deputy’s ongoing advocacy on behalf of sporting organisations in his constituency. We expect to open the sports facilities fund, which is for clubs up to a maximum of €200,000, next spring with announcements next autumn. It normally runs every two years. We have only ever run two iterations of the large-scale sports infrastructure fund, the first in 2019 and the more recent at the end of 2024. The plan is to reopen that in a shorter timeframe for the third round but it should be borne in mind the …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I know it is something he is committed to. We have spoken about it before. Encouraging clubs to collaborate particularly with local authorities under a municipal approach could deliver significant benefits to sporting organisations and opportunities for people in local communities to engage in sport across the country and, from the Deputy’s perspective, in County Galway in particular. We all know the importance of sport to the well-being and health of our local communitie…

We have asked Sport Ireland to conduct an exercise to assess gaps in particular sporting facilities around the country in order that we get an overall sense of what the facilities are in different areas and are able to factor that into our future sports capital considerations and announcements. My experience, and I am sure the Deputy’s too, is that almost all clubs across all sports are under pressure for space. We had seen very significant uptake in participation, with a significant closing of the gender gap in te…

We will look at all of this. I want to ensure that our local authorities are thinking seriously about sporting facilities in their planning for an area and their use of land, particularly existing land. I also want to ensure our schools are thinking about how they can collaborate with sporting clubs. While land is a challenge, there is a lot of latent potential in the land we have. In the past, we did not put enough focus on getting people to co-operate and collaborate and to think how they can work together to dev…

I know from having spoken to the Deputy that he is very committed to the post office network and wants to see it developed. I thank him for raising the matter. As he is aware, the Government is committed to a sustainable An Post and post office network which, as we all know, is a key component of the economic and social infrastructure of communities across the country. The programme for Government states that the Government will continue to provide the nationwide network of post offices with funding to ensure their…

We will continue to determine how we can ensure we utilise and maximise the post office network in terms of providing face-to-to face services to local communities. As he knows, in many small villages post offices are the last remaining face-to-face service. They provide important services in towns of all sizes, in particular small towns. We want to make sure that we examine how we can utilise the network to the best capacity possible. We also recognise the importance of making sure that post offices are viable and…

We are very clear on the importance of Government funding and the three-year contract to make sure post offices are sustained. I have no doubt we would have seen closures over the past three years if it had not been for the Government stepping up to the mark. We are also very clear on the importance of us continuing to step up and support the network. We have received a submission from the postmasters' union on the renewal of the contract. There are state aid considerations and that technical work is being worked t…

I thank Deputy Carthy. As he knows, capital support for new swimming pools and the refurbishment of existing pools continues to be provided by the Department through the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF, which to date has allocated €28.9 million to nine swimming pools throughout the country. Investment in a swimming pool for Monaghan, as the Deputy knows, is a matter for the local authority in the first instance. Once the next round of the LSSIF opens, Monaghan County Council will be eligible to apply f…

The first requirement is for the county council to be proactive. While I certainly will be proactive in trying to ensure we secure funding and deliver swimming pools throughout the country, we will only be able to deal with applications that are on our desk. It is highly likely we will not be able to deal with every application, given the level of demand, but we will be doing our best to see real development in this regard. There is no doubt there are significant gaps in swimming pool infrastructure throughout the …

As the Deputy knows, we had a round recently in which almost 30 projects across the country were grant-aided under the large-scale support infrastructure fund, LSSIF. The focus on the short term is to work with all of those applications that were successful in the recent round, as well as with a good number from 2019, to ensure that they are progressing, that funding is getting drawn down and that we see those facilities built. Some swimming pools are a part of that. We hope to have the next round in a shorter time…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he is aware, the matter in question is the subject of an ongoing Garda investigation and we must remain mindful of that fact during our discussions this evening. It is the view of my Department and that of Sport Ireland that the FAI has engaged appropriately with these allegations. From the newspaper article which the Deputy mentioned, it seems that no complaint was made to nor any evidence of inappropriate behaviour received by the FAI in 2023. Once it received a forma…

This is an issue that my Department and Sport Ireland were aware of and had looked at. It is my Department's view, and that of Sport Ireland, that the FAI engaged appropriately with these allegations. The Deputy mentioned a particular newspaper article which has been discussed this evening. It outlines that no complaint was made to, nor any evidence of inappropriate behaviour received by, the FAI in 2023. Once it received a formal complaint in January 2024, the FAI acted and contacted the Garda and Tusla, in accord…

I thank Deputy Geoghegan for raising this issue. I was delighted to attend the Federation of Irish Sport annual awards last week and see the great progress that so many of our national governing bodies were doing. The Government is committed to continuing the pathway we have been on, which is significantly increasing funding for sports to the national governing bodies but particularly to our clubs across the country to develop their facilities further. We saw a significant allocation of €270 million last year in te…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset, I wish to make clear that online news media, as the Senator knows, is not regulated by Coimisiún na Meán but rather falls under the remit of the Press Council, whose membership includes a number of online-only news publications, which subjects these publications to the Press Council’s code of practice. Complaints about such members, including about possible breaches of the code of practice, may be directed to the Office of the Press Ombudsman under the coun…

I thank the Senator. As I have set out, the Broadcasting and Other Media Regulation Acts 2009 and 2022 set out the regulatory framework for implementation by Coimisiún na Meán in respect of broadcasters and providers of audiovisual on-demand media services, as well as online safety in respect of user-generated content. While there are important statutory duties and code-making powers under this legislation relating to the reporting of news and current affairs, these do not extend to online publications. Therefore, …

I will try to be brief in that case. I thank the Senator for raising this matter. We are trying to improve services in Letterkenny General Hospital as well, so I understand what she is trying to achieve and the importance of insulin pump therapy. I will cut to the chase and speak to the situation with regard to Cavan and Monaghan hospital. As we know, the provision of insulin pump therapy is a highly specialised subspecialty of paediatric medicine and must be led by a consultant endocrinologist. Cavan and Monaghan …

I am happy to take this matter on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. The Deputy made a valid point, and I thank him for raising this matter. On 25 April 2023, the Government approved additional measures under the Housing for All action plan to incentivise the activation of increased housing supply and to help reduce housing construction costs, including the introduction of temporary time-limited arrangements for the waiving of local authority section 48 developme…