Vol. 565 No. 4
9 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism further to the raising of this issue some months ago, if he will report on the progress he is making on a nation-wide audit of sports facilities as outlined in An Agreed Programme for Government. [11118/03]
As I indicated previously, the commitment to a complete national audit of local sports facilities as outlined in the programme for Government will be addressed in the context of the development of a new long-term strategic plan for the provision of sports facilities.
The first step in the development has commenced with a review of the existing sports capital programme under the Department's expenditure review programme which is due to be completed by the summer. The purpose of this review is to establish what has been achieved under this programme over recent years with a view to identifying gaps in existing provisions and possible priorities for the future. Following this exercise an inter-agency steering group will be set up to devise a long-term strategy for the development of sports facilities and one of its first tasks will be to oversee the commencement of a national audit of local sports facilities.
This group, which will include members from Departments and State agencies, will consider the range of facilities to be included in the audit. It will be important before commencing the audit that a clear method of classifying facilities is established to ensure a consistent approach is adopted. This will help establish an accurate and comprehensive picture on the availability of sports and recreational facilities nation-wide.
As this will be an extensive and complex piece of work involving the obtaining of responses from a wide range of Departments, local authorities and State agencies, its completion will take a considerable length of time.
I raised this question to make sure there will be some action. The Minister will be aware that such audits have been carried out in parts of the UK and are proving successful in targeting the age groups involved in sport and whether there is a correlation between schools and certain sporting activities. At the 2001 sports development conference in the Citywest Hotel, a presentation was made on the effectiveness of such an audit. The Minister previously indicated that Northern Ireland was carrying out a similar type audit and that it envisaged it would take five years to complete. Is the Minister in a position to indicate what steps he will take to ensure it will not take as long here? Will he indicate what methodology he will use? For example, will he look at sports in schools? The Department of Education and Science would be interested in the findings of this audit because they might help it to better plan schools building projects.
In regard to the agency's terms of reference, are any mechanisms in place to ensure this audit will be completed more quickly than that in Northern Ireland given the limited resources which the Minister for Finance will give to the Minister?
I indicated to Deputy Gogarty in the past that it is envisaged that an exercise such as this in a smaller jurisdiction will take up to five years. I do not know how I can advance such an exercise more quickly here dealing with a larger jurisdiction. The difficulty which exists is that there has been no real study or review of the sports capital programme since its inception and that is the first thing which must be carried out.
Is money the issue?
Some 2,900 different projects have been grant aided under the new programme. Later on, we will deal with the criteria that have been utilised in order to determine which projects should be financed. It is of immense importance in terms of the audit which will take place after the review that certain matters are looked at, as Deputy Gogarty has pointed out. In that respect, the question of geographical location is of some importance as is the question of equivalence and of making a special effort in regions which are marginalised. Disadvantaged areas have to be taken into account in a special way. We also have to ensure that various disciplines and requirements are catered for. There is no exact science, nor could there be, but once the audit is completed we will have a clear picture of the direction in which we should go. I cannot say at this point how long it will take other than to say that we have initiated it.
Will it be done in the lifetime of this Government?
It has been reported by the Department that it could take three to five years. Does the Minister not think that is pathetic? It would not take a year to go around this country to do an audit on facilities. What money and staff have been allocated to do it? Have the councils been contacted because I believe most local authorities have employed consultants over the last two or three years to carry out such an audit at local level? It is crazy to say it will take three or four years. It is fudging the issue.
It is not just an audit. The problem is that we are drawing up a new long-term strategy to deal with the provision of facilities around the country. It is not the intention, nor was it, to simply have an audit because that would not achieve anything. We want to ensure we have a strategic plan which is viable and which can be utilised for the benefit of the population at large. If Deputy English or Deputy Gogarty has a suggestion which would be of benefit to me in expediting the procedure, I would only be too glad to hear of it.
I have outlined on numerous occasions when this matter was discussed the importance of investigating the problems of and the lack of facilities in large housing estates. I note what the Minister said regarding disadvantaged areas but there is also a problem in large housing estates which lack facilities. I hope the report and information received from local authorities will outline what facilities are available in these estates. Many of the clubs go in, cherry-pick the good players, take them away and leave everyone else behind. That creates major problems in these areas. As part of this report, I hope we will see what facilities are provided in large housing estates where there are so many problems.
Deputy Wall has hit the nail on the head. It is important that local authorities participate in the audit. In that context, I am glad to report that Limerick City Council, Meath County Council and Fingal County Council have already carried out an inventory of sports facilities within their jurisdictions. However, other local authorities have been remiss in not doing so. In that respect, I call on local authorities to do so because it would feed into the central review and, subsequently, the audit and the strategic plan. It is important, when local authorities are drawing up an inventory, that they identify the areas mentioned by Deputy Wall, particularly built-up areas which are marginalised or disadvantaged. This is necessary to give young people in such places an opportunity, which they might not otherwise have, to participate in healthy sporting activities.
