The teaching profession has done fantastic work and we are committed to supporting them as well. On the local issues raised by Senator Keogan, obviously I am aware of them all and I am in touch with Department officials in relation to them and will keep her informed on them. They are obviously dear to her heart and dear to my heart. On the position of Duleek secondary school, as Members will know I have campaigned for that in the past. A decision was taken otherwise and it is certainly something I think is needed a…

I absolutely agree with the Deputy that it would be wonderful to see Katie Taylor in Croke Park. To that end, my very first meeting with anyone from outside the Department was with Katie Taylor's manager, Brian Peters, in the early part of January. It was explained to us that there was a funding gap between what the promoters were prepared to pay for the fight and what the fight would actually cost. We said that the Government absolutely supports major events, but there is a process to go through. Immediately after…

The Deputy raised the issue of support schemes and compensation measures to help businesses and individuals that are dependent on seasonal tourism, which could be adversely affected by the reduction in capacity available this season due to hotels and other tourism accommodation being used to house international asylum seekers and Ukrainian people fleeing war. I thank her for relaying the constructive tone of the meeting at Rosses Point and the constructive tone also shown by her and Deputies Feighan and MacSharry. …

I thank Deputy Harkin for raising the issue. I thank her and her colleagues for their relentless advocacy of tourism and business in Sligo and for the constructive approach they have taken on this. I am fully aware of the beautiful tourist sites in Sligo. Deputy Harkin mentioned Rosses Point in particular but she is right to say there are many others, including Knocknarea, Lough Gara and Enniscrone. I am a regular in Yeats country. There is also Mullaghmore and other beautiful places. The Minister, Deputy Catherine…

I thank Senator Currie for raising the matter. It is vital that every child and young person with special educational needs be fully supported in the education sector, whether in mainstream, a special class or a special school. Significant investment and reforms have been made to ensure this is the case. A priority for the Government is to ensure that all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to cater for the needs of children with special educatio…

I will ensure the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, is made aware of the specific points the Senator raised. She has visited a large number of special schools and special classes since she took office and has seen the excellent work done for and with students. I have no doubt she would be more than happy to visit the Senator's area and the school in question. There are challenges and the Department and both the Minister for Education and the Minister of State are committed to continuing to work to ensure school co…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Chomhairle. I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague in the Department of Education, the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, who is not available. I thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Dáil the current position in respect of the accommodation needs of Ratoath Junior National School, in Ratoath, County Meath and the firm commitment of the Government, my firm commitment, and the Department of Education's firm commitment…

The situation is that there was much discussion about this issue, with parents being on to all of us last year. I was engaging with the board of management at that time, and with Department officials as well. On 2 September 2022, an agreement was completed regarding this project happening. The school was then told to go about doing it. It did that and appointed a design team to do the work. It is currently drawing up plans. As I understand it, this work will not require planning permission. Again, we will wait to s…

Addressing women's participation at all levels in sport is an important element of the national sports policy and a core priority for me, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and the Government as a whole. That includes women in leadership positions such as board members of national governing bodies, NGBs. The sports action plan sets a target for all NGBs to achieve 40% gender representation on their boards by the end of this year. It is a priority to enable women to take more leadership positions in sport and th…

The Deputy is absolutely correct. I want to be clear to all the national governing bodies, including the big national governing bodies that, to be fair, are doing a lot for sport and women in sport. To be clear, the grant funding to those organisations is now closely aligned to our key policies, one of which is the achievement of 40% gender balance with female representation on the boards of NGBs. I have met some of these bodies - not all - and the importance of this has been on my agenda in every conversation I ha…

I know the Deputy will be fighting for sports funding for Carlow.

It would be no harm to remind the national governing bodies that the funding will be dependent on having representation at board level. We must fight for more facilities. Frankly, this summer is going to be like Italia 90, in some respects, with our women's soccer team in the World Cup. Any level of inequality would simply not be tolerated. We have to work to get more facilities because I expect, in soccer at least, that more women will be participating. I know the Deputy will be working hard in Carlow on that. Muc…

That would go against the whole point of it. We have yet to make decisions on that.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 31, 39, 51, 54, 73 and 75 together. As the Deputies are aware, the sports capital and equipment programme, SCEP, is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over 13,000 projects have benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to over €1.15 billion. The programme for Government commits to continuing …

I completely reject the Sinn Féin proposal to move away from the sports capital programme. We will not do that. We will stick with it and we will be prioritising disadvantaged areas. That is what we are doing and that is what the sports capital programme has always done. Areas of disadvantage are awarded higher marks under the scheme. There will be a transparent marking scheme and people will know what these projects are judged on. Disadvantage is probably the strongest criterion. Women in sport is really important…

They are also in Kildare. I am addressing the areas where Deputies spoke on this particular question but it is important in every county. We want to help the national governing bodies to help the sporting bodies in the areas and that includes all of them. I have had discussions with some of the national governing bodies on that as well.

I do not reject a sports facility strategy; I rejected Deputy Andrews's proposal to move away from a sports capital programme.

What he said about the Minister of State's constituency is not true. Every constituency did better in the last sports capital allocation.

The Government is committed to doing that with priority for inclusion and disadvantage and we will continue with that. Regarding Deputy Carey's point, discussions are ongoing. Massive ambition has been shown by voluntary clubs throughout the country. These are not professional clubs, as Sinn Féin has alleged. Voluntary clubs in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of cities and everywhere benefited from sports capital grants, and Clare is no exception. I will be working with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to maximis…

I thank the Deputy for this highly relevant question. This is a very exciting time for women's football in Ireland. I recently attended the soccer writers' awards night at which Vera Pauw spoke. The sense of sheer excitement and pride, which came from her and was shared around the room, will be reflected throughout the country as we build up to the World Cup and our women take part in it. We wish them well. It will be very exciting for us in the run-up, but they have considerable hard work to do in preparing for it…