Vol. 421 No. 4
138 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Education if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the grant assistance to the Leinster Schools Swimming Association has proved inadequate and that a disadvantaged school (details supplied) has had funding cut; and the plans, if any, he has to provide additional funding this year.
Under my Department's schemes of assistance to sport, funding is provided annually to the Irish Schools Swimming Association to assist towards the costs of coaching, administration, the purchase of equipment and the development of special projects designed to increase participation and improve standards. I understand that a portion of the grant is used to subsidise the cost of swimming classes in selected disadvantaged areas and that the school in question has benefited under the scheme. The allocation of this grant is the responsibility of the Association itself and my Department has no direct function in the matter.
The position is that given the levels of funding available to my Department for expenditure on sport, it will not be possible to provide any increase in the allocation for the Irish Schools Swimming Association in the current year.
