Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

That is fantastic, I say to the Minister of State. On the condition of the FAI, I know that the Minister of State often hosts phone calls with different sports clubs on the application process. I encouraged the Minister of State to continue doing that. I know that for the football clubs I have seen, they have spent all their time just trying to organise pitches. There is not really the administrative capabilities among many of them because, so often, they are just trying to keep the wolf from the door. Could we have some kind of public awareness campaign on that?

The FAI has a job to do in letting its members know about those large-scale infrastructural grants and I do not think it has done that well to this point. That has been seen with the pitches we use. Dublin City Council, as I understand it, have abandoned places I represent such as Fairview Park together with the damage they have failed to address to improve facilities. Perhaps we might be able to get the Minister of State's office to contact Dublin City Council to let it know that that that is coming up because there is a dearth of facilities there and if money is available, I hope that working-class clubs, be they football or boxing, which have been historically left behind in these grants, will be able to avail of them.

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