I move:
That Seanad Éireann notes with satisfaction the Government's recent financial commitment to sport and calls on the Government to continue with this supportive policy.
I thank the House for allowing this motion to be presented here this evening. Sport and recreation have assumed a new relevance in our country over the past decade. It has attracted the interest not only of the masses of the people but of various Government Departments, the professions and commercial interests. It has become the subject of research and experiment and the era from the mid-seventies to the present time could well be described as "the sporting revolution in Ireland". Thousands of our population of all ages and sexes have been influenced by this new quest for fitness and health and have taken to the roads, beaches and gyms in response.
People are now realising that we have a very suitable natural environment for exercising, such as long stretches of unused beaches, clean unpolluted air and quiet country roads. People realise that sport is not the privilege of certain somatotypes but rather "for all to experience and enjoy". This attitude hindered and inhibited people from getting involved previous to this. The present Government and the previous Governments responded very positively to this new revolution, as I described it, in sport.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Donal Creed, to the House. He has proved to be a very good Minister for sport and he has gained a great deal of respect from various sporting organisations. As I said, the present Government have responded in a very positive way to the necessity for the increased funding of sport.
On 26 March 1984, the Minister of State at the Department of Education, Deputy Creed, announced, on the recommendations of Cospóir, the allocation of £502,720 in direct grants to national sports organisations. These grants, in addition to the allocation of £300,000 announced by the Minister for Finance in the budget, represent an increase of 62 per cent over the 1983 allocation and according to the Minister, Deputy Creed, "is evidence of the Government's commitment to the development of sport in Ireland." Credit must be given to the Government for this enormous increase in funding.
A number of organisations received substantially increased funding for 1984. The Minister indicated that he was particcularly pleased to be able to give a grant of £100,000 to the Olympic Council of Ireland and that this grant, together with the special grant of £140,000 included in the budget allocation, was further evidence of the Government's concern that our Olympic team would be the best prepared team to leave our shores. I would like to point out that I made reference to this previously in the Seanad when I asked the Government to increase the funding of the Olympics. I am glad there was a very positive response to my request.
To mark the celebration of the centenary year of the GAA a special grant of £100,000 was awarded in the budget in recognition of the contribution which the GAA have made to Irish society not only in sport but in a wide range of related activities of a social and cultural nature. This grant together with the annual grant from Cospóir, which amounts to £44,500 in 1984 will no doubt be most welcomed by GAA headquarters. As a former GAA player I am very grateful to the Government for their allocation because I think they have made an enormous contribution to our people and our country over the years.
As I am on the point of the funding of the GAA I would like to point out to the Minister two recent issues of contention, the VAT on hurleys and the rates on GAA pitches. I would seriously request that he examine both of these with a view to softening the impact of VAT on hurleys and rates on GAA clubs. I will be looking forward to a positive response to this request.
The budget also made provision for £10,000 for the Irish Wheelchair Association to assist towards the cost of preparing and sending a team to the Olympics for the Disabled. Again, the Government showed their awareness of the great work the Irish Wheelchair Association are doing for the disabled. I would like to call on the Government to look further at the whole funding of sports for the handicapped. It is an area in which I have a special interest. I work with disabled people and I think they deserve better treatment from all of us.
Some organisations will be hosting major international sporting events in Ireland in 1984, and these have received special recognition from the Government with additional funding being provided above their normal grants. I would just like to point out the organisations in question. These are: Irish Squash Association, who are allocated in addition to a grant of £9,000, a special grant of £5,000 for hosting the European Squash Championships; the Irish Canoe Association which is allocated an additional grant of £5,000 for the World Marathon Canoe Championships; Comhairle Liathróid Láimhe na hÉireann received £5,000 towards the cost of staging the World Handball Championships. Again, the Minister should be complimented on recognising the fact that when we bring in athletes from other countries every effort should be put into facilitating them properly. Personally I think that athletes from Ireland are probably treated better abroad than athletes from foreign countries particularly in events in our country. The budget provision also provides for additional grant aid to the Community Games of £10,000. This must be welcomed. The National Finance Committee for Amateur Football grant has been increased by £10,000; the Irish Boxing Association, £5,000; Bord Lúthchleas na hÉireann, £5,000; the National Athletic and Cycling Association, £5,000. All of these must be noted and welcomed.
It is also significant that five organisations have been recognised for grant aid this year for the first time. This indicates that the Government are aware of what is happening in sport in our country. The organisations are the Irish Ladies Gaelic Football Association which is making great strides; The Irish Ladies Golf Union, the Irish Women's Cricket Union, the Irish Trampoline Association and Sand-Yatching, Ireland.
In addition to direct grants for the national sporting organisations, financial assistance to enable sport organisations to develop sport exchanges with their counterpart organisations in France has been increased. It is the Minister's intention to award up to five further scholarships in 1984. This will increase to 22 the present number who are availing of these scholarships. These young sport persons can pursue their career in sport while studying for the academic qualifications of their choice. This idea is very plausible and one which could well be extended in future. We could even forge further links with other European countries and Eastern European countries where there is a very high emphasis on sport.
In the current year also the youth and sport fund to the VEC's has been increased from £700,000 to £770,000. This fund is allocated to the VECs to enable them to respond to the needs of youth and sport bodies and organisations at local level. This is a very important aspect of funding for sport. It is open to the clubs affiliated to national sporting bodies to seek assistance from this fund from their local VECs. From experience I can confirm that this funding has played a very important role in many clubs in my own county and the grants have been wisely used.
On 14 May 1984 the Minister of State, Deputy Creed, announced the further allocation of £345,600 to 37 VECs to promote youth and sport activity in their area of administration. In addition, a grant of £68,000 was made available to the City of Dublin VEC for the promotion of sport activities in Dublin. It is worth nothing that the Dublin city manager gave a very good account of what they are doing at the moment in the Dublin VEC in relation to sport in the recent conference organised by Cospóir in Mayo. Much is being achieved in trying to eliminate a lot of evils in society around Dublin by their funding of many projects. In view of this they can justify their case for further future allocations and increased allocations. It is intended that an amount of not less than 25 per cent of this total grant will be expended on the promotion of sport for all by the local sports advisory bodies attached to the VECs. The remainder of the grants will be divided between youth and sport activities which may include grants to clubs in respect of administrative costs, training and coaching courses and the purchase of equipment and organisation by the VEC and other courses for training and coaching. I welcome the reference here to coaching. We are lagging behind in respect of proper coaching and administration. There are very wide gaps between coaching standards in the south of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We can learn much from the administration of coaching schemes in Northern Ireland. We hope we can remedy the position over the years and bring our coaching standards up to European and United Kingdom standards. Overall, the total budget and total expenditure in grant aid to sport was £1,492,000. This represented a sizeable increase on past allocations.
I would like at this stage to make reference to AnCO's contribution. Over 10 per cent of the projects undertaken this year are directly related to sport facilities. Over the years, Senators must admit that AnCO have made a very fine contribution to the provision of facilities around the country, in reconstructing old halls, building dressing rooms and gymnasia. This work must be encouraged to continue.
I would like to refer briefly to the overall Government policy and philosophy on sport as was indicated in the recent four year plan for education. I would like to quote here from Chapter 2, section 31, page 19 of the four year plan:
Involvement in sport is important for the personal and social development of all young people and particularly for those young people who might other-wide be drifting towards or involved in vandalism, crime or drug abuse. Sport can be particularly supportive in disadvantaged areas and for the young unemployed.
I think that is a very important section in the chapter and one we should look at carefully. There is no doubt that sport can be a perfect antidote against vandalism, crime and drug abuse. The more young people involved in sport the less vandalism and drug abuse will prevail in our communities. It is worth noting in Chapter 2, section 33 of the Programme for Action in Education and I quote:
The Department will encourage the development of sport for all activities in both primary and post-primary schools aimed at increasing children's awareness of the value of sport thus encouraging active participation.
Again here it is important that we give special attention and allocate an appropriate amount of time to physical education in the schools. Up to now, unfortunately, unless a PE teacher was available in a school, physical education was neglected. I would like to refer especially to the primary schools where primary teachers, through lack of training, are reluctant or feel inadequate to take PE classes. This has resulted in a falling skill level in our national games such as hurling and Gaelic football. The fact that there are very few male teachers now in the schools and that female teachers predominate in the national school teaching profession could contribute to this. It is important that we push physical education as much as possible within the primary and secondary sectors.
The Government have adopted the principle that sport should be an integral part of each child's educative process and that physical fitness should be encouraged through our schools to the greatest possible extent. I hope this attitude and principle will be developed to the fullest.
Going back to the teaching of PE in the primary schools I am encouraged by reference made in the action programme in Chapter 2, section 34. I quote from that chapter:
In reviewing the primary teaching training programme, the development of the curriculum in PE will be given attention. In-service courses for existing teachers will be provided.
There are many teachers — and I have found this out from experience — who are willing to take PE classes if they are given direction and leadership. Through the lack of in-service courses and a lack of adequate training they are not allowed to get this opportunity. There is a great case here for in-service courses and for continuing education even after teachers are qualified. Again, I consider this aspect very important, and I know from my own experience that many primary teachers consider themselves totally inadequate to attempt any form of physical education in the schools in case of injuries or misbehaviour and so forth. This attitude and lack of confidence will have to be changed and reversed, because if we hope to promote sport from the beginning we will have to start in the national schools.
I would like to refer here to the employment of physical education teachers both in primary and secondary schools. The Minister should be urged to consider employing one teacher for a number of primary schools and they could circulate in an area, and in the post-primary sector where some schools have no PE teachers. This would be very beneficial to the children and would afford very good employment opportunities to unemployed PE personnel.
While on this topic I would like to refer to our health bill and to point out that expenditure on medical services continues to increase at an alarming rate, apparently without any real gains in community health status. I feel that continued concentration on curative medical care with its enormous costs would make little improvement in the nation's health. I conclude that improvement will be achieved only by preventive measures and principally by motivating individuals to take a responsible attitude to their own health care, particularly in regard to diet and physical activity. This habit formation will have to be got under way and inculcated in the children at the primary and post-primary stages. The Minister for Health made the point recently that there will have to be more emphasis placed on preventive medicine rather than curative medicine. I am sure you would all agree with me on this. The pursuit of a health lifestyle and the transmission of positive attitudes should be encouraged at an early age and developed through a formal educational experience. We must continue to strive towards this ideal.
I would like to point out that in 1983 in the primary sector over 52 schools were completed and all these have provision for PE facilities. Unfortunately, in many cases the teachers feel inadequate to have PE in the schools but if we go along the line of having in-service courses this problem could be overcome. So far this year 19 schools have been completed and they have been equipped with PE facilities. In the post-primary section, 16 schools were completed from March 1983 to 1984. Seven of these are equipped with full PE halls, and this must be welcomed. But I would again recommend that in future any school that is being constructed should include PE facilities if possible.
Having been deeply involved both in the participation and administrative ends of sport over the past ten years, I must admit that enormous progress has been made in coaching, provision of facilities, administration etc. I remember when I commenced PE studies we were very much underdeveloped in sport compared with other European countries. That was back in 1971, and I must say that in my opinion we have made enormous strides since then in the raising of standards and the provision of facilities. I would like to make the following recommendations to the Minister with a view to accelerating progress. I have given this a lot of thought and I think that the recommendations have some relevance and deserve consideration. I would urge the Minister to inject substantial funds into rapidly upgrading the opportunities for participation in physical activities and capitalising on the heightened awareness that sport for all has initiated. We are not cashing in enough as politicians and administrators on this. At the moment health and fitness have aroused great national interest. I feel that we as politicians and the Department of Sport are not giving this sufficient leadership and direction. I would suggest that money would be diverted from the accelerating curative medical budget to preventive medical areas thereby providing more funds for physical activity progress and facilities.
I recommend as a high priority that a national sports assembly be formed to co-ordinate the development of sport in Ireland. Cospóir could be incorporated into this. The new sports assembly could act as an adviser to the Minister. The assembly could be composed of members recommended by the sporting bodies and associations. It could also have representatives from the medical sector, preferably somebody involved in sports medicine. Representatives should also be nominated from the health education bureaux, the Irish Olympic Council, the Community Games Association, the Council for the Disabled and the Department of Education. I am not suggesting that Cospóir has been a failure but in its capacity it has not been as successful as it could have been, and such an assembly would prevent this overlapping of facilities at the moment. I find that there is very little integration between the various sporting bodies and even sometimes between the Gaelic games of hurling and football.
If there was a sporting council with members from all sports it would create a healthier attitude to other sports and give people a broader vision of what sport is all about. Such an assembly could actively encourage and facilitate the amalgamation of single sports clubs into multi-sport clubs, especially in urban centres. In urban centres there are small clubs, Gaelic football and hurling and soccer scattered around the place but, because there is such a demand for land and space all those clubs could be amalgamated into a multi-sport club sharing the same facilities. This could also encourage the maximum use of facilities and prevent overlapping. I also recommend as a high priority a sports assembly hall, or sports house, to be developed to house the proposed sports assembly and to act as a centre for administration and information. This assembly could also co-ordinate training courses for coaches, officials and administrators, and appoint directors of coaching development in administration positions. It could disseminate audio-visual material and manuals prepared on areas of common need via a resource centre if it had such a centre. It could do research into training methods and fitness, injuries, skill testing and first aid.
I also recommend that the large clubs and associations seek additional funds through sponsorship and social activities and use those funds to hire full time professional coaching staff, if possible. Local sporting organisations should seek to develop and improve liaison with the increasing number of physical education teachers who have graduated from Limerick but, in a lot of cases, are not very effective in their community because the sporting clubs lack liaison with them. That should be encouraged.
I would urge more partnership between Government and the commercial sector. For example, local councils often have access to prime land surrounded by a large population base and by constructing a facility and leasing it to commercial managers the community can benefit by using an efficiently managed facility at a reasonable cost. Where private enterprise finances a project the cost of the land and high interest rates could render the viability of the facility prohibitive. This is working in some cases like Templeogue swimming pool, for example. I also urge the Minister to consider the future development of outdoor pursuit centres. These could attract people from outside Ireland and be an employment creator. At a recent conference by Cospóir special emphasis was given to outdoor recreation with a view to exploiting our unspoiled natural environment and from the tourist, employment and recreational aspect this area should be seriously looked at.
I also request the Minister to consider, in consultation with other Departments the setting up of skilled training facilities and recreational centres to facilitate people who are unemployed and who could spend their time profitably at such centres and embark on some form of course. Finally, I should like to say that progress requires enthusiasm, optimism, leadership, good management and financial resources. All these elements other than a substantial increase in finance are available. Therefore, I recommend as a high priority that efforts be made to secure additional financial resources from the Government and the commercial sector.
