Last year, I launched the Her Moves campaign to support, motivate and encourage teenage girls to be active. The Her Moves branding, including certain criteria around programme design, is now being used by organisations when rolling out physical activity programmes that target teenage girls. We have also taken a number of other initiatives. Under the community sports facilities fund, which is the new name for the sports capital programme, we asked clubs and grassroots associations to come forward with projects that …

The Minister informs me that on the arts side of the Department, a safety programme is being established along the lines of what the Deputy spoke about in terms of ensuring women and girls feel safe in sports settings. That will be rolled out in a number of venues, including sports clubs. On the sports side, the sports organisations, in fairness, have come a long way. There is still a bit of way to go. They are very conscious of this issue. It took the threat of a 50% cut in funding to get some of them over the lin…

I mí an Mheithimh anuraidh, d'fhógair an Roinn go raibh conradh bronnta ar an gcomhlacht Barr Feabhais Teoranta chun athbhreithniú a dhéanamh ar an gcéad deich bplean teanga a ceadaíodh faoi réir Acht na Gaeltachta, 2012. Cinnteoidh an tionscnamh seo, a bhfuil buiséad suas le €92,500 a chur ar fáil ina leith, go ndéanfar athbhreithniú neamhspleách ar fheidhmiú na bpleananna teanga seo. Cuirfear aiseolas maidir le feidhmiú na bpleananna ar fáil agus, bunaithe ar an méid a aithnítear san athbhreithniú, beifear in ann…

Tá athbhreithniú neamhspleách ar siúl maidir leis seo. Tá an t-athbhreithniú fós ar siúl. Níl aon tionchar polaitiúil ar an bpróiseas sin. Táimid ag iarraidh go mbeidh sé neamhspleách agus go mbeidh an scéal iomláin inste dúinn. Caithfimid fanacht ar an obair sin. Táim ag súil leis an athbhreithniú. Táim ag súil leis na scéalta maithe a thiocfaidh amach as agus leis na drochscéalta gur féidir a thiocfaidh amach as. Níl a fhios agam mar níl aon tionchar agam ar an tuarascáil seo. Táim ag fanacht air. Tá sé beagnach …

Tá súil agam go mbeidh sé seo foilsithe go gairid agus tá mé ag súil leis. Caithfidh mé a rá arís nach bhfuil aon tionchar polaitiúil air seo. Tá sé go hiomlán neamhspleách. Caithfidh muid fanacht air. Tógann na rudaí seo píosa ama. Ní féidir iad a dhéanamh faoi dheifir, agus tá mise ag iarraidh go mbeadh an obair déanta i gceart ionas gur féidir linn leanúint ar aghaidh agus an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn agus na fadhbanna a aimsiú agus na dea-phointí a aimsiú freisin. Teastaíonn uaim a shoiléiriú conas gur féidir l…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 30 and 37 together. The Department operates two capital programmes for sport, namely, the community sports facilities fund, which is the new name for the sports capital and equipment programme, and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund. The National Sports Policy 2018-2027, published by the Government, provided for the establishment of a new large-scale sport infrastructure fund to support bigger projects than would normally have qualified for the community sports facilities…

I will not because there is not a whole lot more to say about this that I have not said already. I can follow up on the supplementary questions.

As regards Deputy O'Sullivan's point on the appeals, there is an appeals process for disappointed clubs. Every valid application will get a grant. There may be some which are marked invalid, and they will have the chance to appeal that. That will be announced at the time we make the launch. As regards Deputy Boyd Barrett's point, disadvantaged areas are prioritised in this programme. We did reach out to the Football Association of Ireland and the Irish Athletic Boxing Association to encourage them to get their club…

I thank everyone who has been in touch. Most Deputies have been in touch about particular clubs in their areas. We will satisfy the demand under the community sports facilities fund, which is what we are now calling the sports capital programme. Most clubs will be very satisfied with that. As for large-scale projects – and I will get the figures at some point for Deputy O’Sullivan - there is a mismatch between the demand and the funding available. The demand is €660 million. The funding available is approximately €…

I thank Deputy Duncan Smith for raising this topic. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Deputy Smith is right; quite a number of my constituents who use Laytown, Drogheda, Stamullen and Gormanston stations are affected by this. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport, but neither the Minister or his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. That rests wit…

I assure the Deputy that the Minister for Transport and I recognise that transport connectivity is hugely important for people who live and work in Ireland. What happened is unfortunate and it is not acceptable. There have been some improvements since the timetable changes on 16 September and I have listened to what the Deputy said. With regard to the restrictions between Drogheda and Connolly Station, we all know there is a single track each way with extremely limited options. Trains come into Connolly Station fro…

I want to thank the Deputies for raising this serious matter on the upcoming regulation on what are called the XL bully-type dogs, which I think are recognised in some countries as a breed, and in others may not be. That will come into effect on 1 October. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, announced a ban on the XL bully dogs in the interest of public safety and human safety following number of recent attacks. The XL bully was responsible for a number of attacks and killings in this country. If the Government does no…

The Government recognises that some people may not agree with the decision, and I also note that the Deputies are coming at this from different perspectives. Both of them have raised reasonable issues and I have no doubt about that. To reply to Deputy Andrews, the reality is that these dogs have only been bred in the last number of decades. They are not as ancient as the Irish wolfhound. It is a completely different scenario, so I am sure-----

I am not sure we-----

I am not sure we should compare an XL bully to the ancient Irish wolfhound, which has been a breed of dog in this country for centuries.

There are public safety issues here, and we need to be aligned with our nearest neighbours. We have little choice but to address this with regulation. On the reasonable point that Deputy Hourigan raised, the Department of Rural and Community Development is in discussions with the Department of agriculture in relation to the proposed transfer of the local authority veterinary service to the Department of agriculture and the impact this will have. The Government continues to support the ongoing discussions that will …

-----and have led to deaths in a number of instances.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the Ardmore-Dungarvan route. For the sake of the written record, I will leave out the first number of paragraphs of the script, as they describe the school bus scheme in some detail and may not be of major relevance. I will discuss the school transport 2030 report, which was published this year and is the largest review of the school transport scheme since the scheme's establishment in 1967. The Government is working to achieve the report’s recommendation of expanding acc…

There has been an increase in the number of tickets issued this year, with more than 140,000 issued. The numbers travelling on our bus services have increased significantly over the past number of years, at 38% over a five-year period. As the Deputy and I have both highlighted, Bus Éireann is currently assessing the route and will continue to ensure the safety, and must ensure the safety, of all pupils on board school transport services. I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to update him on the school transport s…

Stop running down your own city.