The introduction of this Bill coincided with the death of Noel Carroll. Many Deputies have paid tribute to him. As Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation I too pay tribute to the late Noel Carroll who was an Olympian athlete, Chief Executive of Dublin Chamber of Commerce and former spokesman for Dublin Corporation. These are just some of his more public titles. However, the measure of a man is not the number of titles he possesses but the manner in which he carries out the various roles in his daily living.
Noel Carroll exemplified an accomplished man, and did so in the humblest of ways. His life was lived to the fullest and at a pace that many of us could never attempt to emulate. His dedication to the task at hand was always more than 100 per cent. Whether it was the logistics for conferring freedom of Dublin City on President Clinton or as he coached student athletes at Belfield, his fierce determination to see things done the right way won many a day.
As a sportsman, Noel Carroll was the embodiment of what our ideal athlete should be. His involvement in sport was legendary. Both as a participant and as a mentor his contribution to Irish sporting successes was immeasurable. With the passing of time his loss will become more keenly felt and much more evident to all who are involved in sport. His premature death has left a great void in the lives of his wife Deirdre, their children, Enda, Nicola, Noel and Stephen, their grandchildren, his extended family, friends and colleagues. To all who knew Noel and mourn his sudden passing, on behalf of this House, I extend deepest sympathy.
I thank all 32 Deputies who contributed to the debate on this important legislation.
Sport is an integral part of our society and plays an important role in promoting personal and community development, in contributing to our economic and social prosperity and in improving the health and well-being of each of our citizens. The creation for the first time of a statutory sports council is intended to further enhance the role of sport in these areas, and I welcome the overwhelming support of the House for this Bill which enables the establishment of the council.
As we will go into greater detail on the various provisions of the Bill at the next Stage when I will deal with the many valid points raised, I will be brief in my response to the points raised by the Deputies on this Stage.
Deputy Allen asked that the Bill specifically provide for the Sports Council to have responsi bility for all lottery funding for sport – a sudden change in the Deputy's attitude – to allay any public suspicion that funding for projects is awarded on the basis of political consideration rather than on merit. The approach that has been adopted in the Bill is to provide an enabling framework which allows the level of funding to be determined by the Government of the day. I am sure Deputies would support that. Such a framework provides the scope for Governments, present and future, to apply the policy approach which they consider most appropriate at the time, having regard to national priorities in general and the needs of the sporting section in particular.
The review of the Sports Capital Programme and the issue of sports facilities generally were raised by almost all Deputies. The review group, comprising representatives of Government Departments and public authorities involved in facility provision, completed its deliberations late last year, following which a new programme has been developed with revised aims and objectives, assessment criteria, terms and conditions. I have already arranged to have the new application form and the guidelines relating to the new programme circulated to all Deputies for their information. That programme has been published in all the national newspapers and there has been a huge response to funding for this year.
As part of the new programme, applicants will be required to increase participation levels in their sport or recreation and to consult other facility providers in their areas with a view to avoiding overlap and duplication. The assessment process will involve consultation with Government Departments and agencies involved in the provision of facilities and with the national governing bodies of sport.
The main objective of the programme, and the one which picks up on a point raised consistently throughout the debate, is to promote a more strategic and co-ordinated approach to the use of available resources for sport and recreation, thereby giving better value for State investment. We have to have a more strategic development of sport – there are areas where there are four swimming pools along a 50 mile tract of road and none in other areas. We have to have a strategy of better State investment. There is approximately £16 million in funding, committed by various Governments, for projects which, for one reason or another, perhaps because grants were too small or were scattered too thinly, have never got to the stage of development. There is £16 million and more than 780 projects awaiting completion. I do not want to see plans in my Department. I want to see these plans, which show a huge level of entrepreneurial activity among the voluntary workers who put them forward, in three-dimensional form that people can use.
Deputy Allen also referred to the review of the outdoor education centres for which responsibility rests with the Department of Education and Science. I understand that the review is now complete and that a report was recently presented to the Minister for Education and Science who is now considering it.
Many Deputies emphasised the need for greater co-ordination between Departments and public bodies in the promotion and development of sport. This is an issue to which I have already referred in the context of the review of the sports capital programme. The Bill specifically addresses this issue by assigning the council, under section 6, with the specific function of co-ordinating recreational sports strategies and, under section 7, the powers to co-operate with, advise and assist various bodies, including all public authorities, in relation to its functions.
The recognition of bridge as a sport was raised by many Deputies. I am well aware of the level of interest and participation in bridge. There was a recognition of bridge in my party's manifesto. As I have already said in the House a number of times, my priority has been to prepare this legislation to provide a framework for the future execution of sports policy, including policy on sports bodies. The recognition of individual sports and recreational activities, including bridge, will be a matter for the Sports Council to consider in the context of its statutory remit. Given the level of interest that has been expressed in this issue, I will ask the Sports Council to examine it as a matter of priority upon its establishment.
The definition of sport in the Bill, raised by Deputies Ferris, Gilmore and others, is based on the internationally accepted Council of Europe definition as set out in the European Sports Charter. On a related matter, Deputy Ferris inquired as to the reason for splitting the definition into recreational and competitive sports categories. My aim here, and I know it is one shared by many Deputies, is to ensure that the council's focus is directed not just at high performance sports people who tend to capture the headlines, but also at the vast majority of people who want to participate in sport for recreation and enjoyment, regardless of age, sex or ability. The idea is that we do not provide only for the elite people who grab the headlines.
Deputy Ferris also noted that the Bill, while welcome, represents a missed opportunity in not providing for the creation of a body charged with addressing issues that form part of a social policy platform. The absence of specific functions to promote the full involvement of people with disabilities in sport and to target the facility and resource needs of disadvantaged areas were cited by the Deputy to support this view. I assure the Deputy that in framing the Bill these issues have not been overlooked. Section 9 requires the council to have regard to Government policy in carrying out its functions and to comply with policy directives issued by the Minister. As one of the cornerstones of this policy, the Government has committed itself to a fully inclusive society where every citizen has the opportunity and incentive to participate fully in the social and economic life of the country.
Initiatives such as the pilot programme for disadvantaged areas, the drugs initiative, the young people's facilities and services fund and the new sports capital programme serve to underline this commitment. The current Sports Council has established a task force on people with a disability in sport to bring forward proposals to ensure their greater participation in sport in the future. The Deputy might wish to re-read my Department's strategy statement which has prioritised participation in sport and recreation by disadvantaged communities.
Most Deputies in their contributions made reference to the issue of sport and physical education in schools. In relation to physical education, I share the Deputies' concerns about the quality of physical education provision in schools, as does my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, who is responsible for this matter. In my opening address, I referred to the pilot project established earlier this year by the Department of Education and Science to introduce a new physical education curriculum in selected schools. This project is of particular significance in that it will help create the foundations for the successful introduction of a well-structured PE syllabus in our schools. The Minister for Education and Science is also keen to include PE as a recognised leaving certificate subject and to this end he has asked the NCCA to investigate the matter. I understand the Minister's intention is that PE be introduced into the leaving certificate curriculum in the school year 2001-02.
On a related matter, I share the view expressed by many Deputies that the promotion of greater participation in sport and physical activity requires an approach that begins at school level. The Sports Council has been in ongoing discussions with the Department of Education and Science to develop initiatives to enhance PE and sport in schools. A number of issues raised by Deputies, such as the question of teaching and coaching sport in schools and the links between school and community sport, are among the issues being discussed. I am confident that the establishment of the Sports Council on a statutory basis will facilitate the creation of even greater links with the Department of Education and Science in promoting enhanced participation by all our children in sport and physical activity.
The issue of drugs was also a common theme in contributions throughout the debate. Deputies will be aware of my well known abhorrence of the use of drugs in sport. The introduction of the national anti-doping programme has been one of my priorities since taking office. Deputy Allen questioned why the programme will not be operational until this year. As the Deputy is well aware, the introduction of the programme involves many complexities and clearly it is imperative that we get all the elements right from the beginning. This is a major initiative for Irish sport, with the testing programme in particular having the potential to significantly impact on the careers of individual sportsmen and women. The programme must have regard to legal issues, the views of all interested parties and the establishment of correct, complex operational procedures. All the necessary preparatory work on the logistics involved is now well under way. The Bill will unequivocally provide the statutory basis for the council to administer the anti-doping programme. I have every confidence that the Sports Council, when established, will operate the programme to the highest standards and will play a leading role in initiatives designed to combat this scourge.
A number of Deputies, including Deputy Hanafin, raised the issue of women in sport and the reasons there are lower participation rates in sport among women than men. The current Sports Council has established a task force to address this issue with the aim of formulating a series of realistic and actionable proposals to overcome barriers to women participating in sport. I expect the task force to report shortly and the findings to form the basis for the statutory Sports Council to promote greater participation by women in the future.
With regard to Sydney 2000 and preparation for these games, I consider that initiatives in the area of funding national governing bodies of sport, particularly the introduction of the international carding scheme for players and athletes, will provide a solid foundation for aspiring Olympians. It must not be forgotten, however, that the preparation and selection of Irish teams for Olympic Games is, quite rightly, a matter solely for the Olympic Council of Ireland. The OCI thus plays a pivotal role in the promotion of Irish sport and, in this context, both myself and the Sports Council have a genuine desire to continue to develop better relationships with it.
Ethics in sport was another theme running through most of the Deputies' contributions and, of course, the Bill provides for the Sports Council to specifically address this issue as part of its core functions. Deputies will be aware that earlier this year, in the aftermath of the issues raised by the Murphy inquiry, I reconvened the Code of Ethics Committee which was responsible for putting together the Code of Ethics in Sport. The committee has been given the task of updating the current publication to take account of the report of the inquiry and of important recent developments in the broad area of child protection.
Once again I thank Deputies for their contributions on Second Stage. They raised many valid points which will be of great benefit to us in furnishing a more comprehensive debate on Committee and Report Stages. I thank Members of the Opposition for allowing the Bill to pass through the House today and I look forward to hearing further contributions on Committee Stage concerning the points raised by Deputies. There is a great amount of co-operation on the Bill and I assure Deputies that any worthwhile amendments they bring forward will be considered.
