Schools most in need should receive sports funding

Dublin Labour Senator Kevin Humphreys has expressed his concern at today’s article in the Sunday Business Post regarding the allocation of school sports grants.

Senator Kevin Humphreys commented:

“I think anyone reading this article would have been jarred by the revelation that 30 public schools had their applications for sports grants turned down this year, while a fee-paying school in the Minister’s constituency in South County Dublin received the highest possible amount.

“The apparent unfairness that a school which already has several rugby, football and astro-turf hockey pitches, as well as basketball courts, a gym and athletics track, is to receive €150,000 from the Government to build a new hockey pitch, while a community school in Tallaght was turned down an application for a five-aside pitch, is glaring.

“Having decent sports facilities makes an enormous difference to a student’s school experience and can have a major impact on whether a student wlll get involved in sport at school at all. 

“We’ll never know what young talent may have been fostered over the years if the school a student attended had had better sports facilities or the resources available to develop that talent.

“We need to see better targeting for these grants to ensure the schools that are most in need are funded.”