I move: That, under Standing Order 87(1)(b), Seanad Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media entitled 'Report on Inclusion in Sport', and progress on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report, copies of which were laid before Seanad Éireann on 9th April, 2024.

I am sharing time with Senator Nelson Murray at 12 minutes and four minutes.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit, an Teachta McConalogue, as ucht a bheith anseo. We have an important report to discuss. This was from the previous iteration of the Dáil and Seanad. It is a 2024 report on inclusion in sport by the sport committee. There were 17 recommendations. I am sure colleagues will speak to many of the recommendations. I will speak to approximately five of them. Inclusion in sport has never been more important, whether we are talking about women, disability, the LGBTQI+ community and ethni…

I will not need five minutes. I do not think I have ever stood here before and said that I echo every single word that every Senator has said during the course of a debate, so I thank them all very much. I appreciate the effort everyone made to be here. Senator Harmon and I were clear that we did not want this report to sit on a shelf. We were not on the sport committee when this report was completed. I commend the previous committee on sport on the work it put into this because there was a lot of stakeholder engag…

I welcome the MEPs. It is great to have them here. I was going to use all my time to speak about the European Week of Sport, which begins today, I think. I had the opportunity last year to go to Brussels and speak at the European Parliament during European Week of Sport along with Nina Carberry, MEP. There was a great discussion about women in sport, inequality and all that. I will get to that because acknowledging European Week of Sport and what we can do both here and at EU level to encourage more people to get i…

Today, we had the funding announcement for the women in sport programme. A total of €4 million is going into it. While this is something that happens every year, it is important to acknowledge it when it comes around because the moment we stop acknowledging and calling for it is the moment it falls off the agenda and no longer becomes a fund that we get to announce every year. This programme was introduced in 2005. Since then, ring-fenced funding has amounted to €30 million. There are a few pillars in the programme…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad for this very important legislation. It is a very short Bill but a very impactful one. The Postal and Telecommunications Services (Amendment) Bill 2026 amends the 1983 Act to provide a legal basis for increased State funding to support the nationwide post office network. We have spoken about this network quite a bit in the past 12 months in the Seanad. With the introduction of the extra funding, it authorises €75 million over a five-year period, which equates to €15 mil…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach. I welcome my guests to the Gallery. We are talking about the safety of children, minors and juveniles but these women have been keeping my children and the children of Crumlin safe for decades. I hope they have a meal later on in the restaurant. I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber for this debate and congratulate Senator Mullen on his Bill, which is progressing nicely. I welcome the premise of the Bill. It aligns with the work of the joint Oireachtas committe…

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Seanadóir Ahearn. He said to me when I first came into the Seanad that he hoped his mam would be proud. I think it is fair to say she always was and definitely is. I congratulate him on his new role. It is great to have his family here to celebrate. I raise something that was brought to my attention on Saturday night - four nights after it actually happened, which in itself is shocking. There is a national school in Cherry Orchard called St. Ultans. It is an integrated care and educati…

Last January, we heard an awful lot of fairly shocking evidence at the Oireachtas joint committee on sport in both public and private sessions, in relation to Rowing Ireland and the practices of the high-performance programme over the past five years in Cork and around the country. Off the back of those hearings, both public and private, the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, announced that an independent inquiry would be launched into what transpired and how to prevent athletes from going through similar circumstances wh…

On 28 January, we at the Oireachtas joint committee on sport heard about safeguarding in sport. We heard from Sport Ireland, Rowing Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport. There was one athlete manager in place, as we learned from the federation at the time. This one individual at the federation was the only person athletes could go to with concerns around training, balancing sport with commitments to education or anything else. It is a broad remit. The CEO of the federation, Mary O'Connor, told us that athlete …

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá sé iontach go bhfuil sé anseo chun an Bille seo a phlé. This Bill is an important step in ensuring Ireland continues to have a viable, dynamic and trusted media landscape. It gives legislative effect to the European Media Freedom Act and strengthens the protections that underpin media independence and public trust. The Bill introduces several key reforms. First, it transfers responsibility for overseeing media mergers from the Minister to Coimisiún na Meán, with new criteria to…

I want to speak today about football. We have an Irish team preparing for possibly one of the biggest nights in Irish football and possibly one of the biggest nights in global football. We have a potential shock on the cards - perhaps "shock" should be in inverted commas - for the Irish women's team in France tonight. It is an enormous game. It is at 7.30 p.m. I want everyone to watch the football at 7.30 p.m. Those women have put their lives into this campaign, this game and this sport. We are not talking about or…

I congratulate Senator Nicole Ryan on the birth of her baby. We are not sure of the name - it might be Réaltín - but we express our congratulations and hope she is enjoying the newborn bubble. I will raise something I have spoken about in this Chamber before related to safeguarding in sport. There was another story in the newspaper last weekend about athlete welfare and safeguarding. This time it was to do with ladies football and alleged racist abuse on the field of play. Unfortunately, it is just another example …

I wish to raise the impact of insurance on sports, community participation and voluntary activity. This is something that my colleague, Senator Nelson Murray, has raised and I will expand on it. Public liability insurance is not an abstract cost for sports clubs and community organisations. It affects whether training can happen; whether events can go ahead; whether volunteers can be supported; and whether facilities can open to the public. Recently, a small GAA club in east Galway had to find almost €7,000 to pay …

Gabhaimid buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith anseo don díospóireacht seo. It is rare that you will see Senators from both sides of the House take a take a joint Commencement matter, but an rud is annamh is iontach. Senator Harmon and I believe that inclusion in sport is not party political, and we tabled this matter together as a reflection of real inclusion. We have reached a point where women's sport is no longer what could be described as a minority sport. Increased and sustained ring-fenced funding from th…

I thank the Minister of State for that update. This is the beginning of a debate we could have at a broader level across the House. There seem to be a lot of Senators who would like to contribute to a debate on inclusion in sport. That would be welcome. We might approach the Cathaoirleach about that. The Minister of State mentioned the next national sports strategy, which will run from 2028 onwards. It will be really important to have some of those points he highlighted included in the next policy. We should examin…

On Tuesday, I spoke in this House about the lack of sporting facilities in Dublin 8. I was speaking particularly about a school, St. Audoen's National School, in Dublin 8, that I visited on Tuesday morning. While it is important to point out what is wrong and the lack of access to facilities, it is really important to also point out and celebrate what is good. I got word this morning that the St. Audoen's girls' football team that I spoke about on Tuesday won their final league match yesterday against John Scottus …

I want to speak about a wonderful group of students I met in my community yesterday. I visited St. Audoen's National School in Dublin 8 and sat down with the children from the older classes in the school. We had a great chat and spoke about life, politics, sport, writing and journalism. We chatted about the importance of democracy and the changes they brought about in their school as a result of their student council. I was delighted to spend my morning with the best and the brightest of us and I am grateful to Pri…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a bheith anseo sa Seanad anocht chun an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a phlé. The national broadband plan, as the Minister said, is the single most significant investment in our telecommunications infrastructure in the history of the State. However, it is not just about providing access to the Internet. It is about ensuring that communities across Ireland are supported economically and socially, that we connect communities and that no town, village or home is left behind as we digitise. T…