Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
470. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the input, she has to ensure that sports facilities around Ireland are made increasingly accessible, in particular when it comes to State support for such facilities. [16083/26]
View answerI thank the Deputy for this question. The Programme for Government commits to supporting the sporting ecosystem so more people, including disabled people, can participate, reap the benefits of sport, and fulfil their potential from grassroots right up to high performance level. This will be achieved through a range of measures including continuing to support the funding of sports capital projects and assessing the distribution of funding to maximise participation in all sports at community and national level, as well as continuing to work with sporting organisations to promote equality of access to sporting facilities and to drive increased participation in sport.
Participation in sport is an important element of both the National Sports Policy 2018-2027 and the recently published Sports Action Plan 2024-2027 and is a core priority for Government generally and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport in particular.
The National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, launched on 3 September 2025, sets out a whole of government approach to advancing further implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
The Strategy will advance delivery on actions across five key thematic pillars that collectively capture the full range of issues impacting on the lives of disabled people:
• Inclusive Learning and Education
• Employment
• Independent Living and Active Participation in Society
• Wellbeing and Health
• Transport and Mobility
Pillar Three – Independent Living and Active Participation in Society – contains an overarching commitment to ensuring that disabled people can enjoy full participation in all activities within their local communities, including sporting activities. As such, increasing the accessibility of sport venues, events and facilities is an important part of this wider commitment.
The Department of Children, Disability and Equality and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are co-leading on the delivery of Pillar 3 in conjunction with numerous other government departments and public agencies. With specific reference to promoting greater accessibility in sport, I look forward to working with the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport in delivering on priority actions related to that commitment.
Demonstrating its commitment to ensuring that equality, diversity and inclusion are key areas for focus, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport also recently published a new Disability Strategy to promote greater inclusion and participation of disabled people in culture and sporting activities, including communications and media supports. By providing direct investment through Local Sports Partnerships and National Governing Bodies under a newly appointed designated disability lead within Sport Ireland, this Strategy has the potential to be transformational in developing and promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities in sport.
Clubs and organisations applying to the Community Sport Facilities Fund (CSFF) must be open to new members and must not have any restrictions on who may join or obtain full membership. All CSFF applicants must agree that, from the date of the grant, they will not deny anybody access to any facility. All projects in receipt of CSFF allocations must be accessible to disabled people and capital projects must conform to the seven principles of universal design and all gym equipment funded must be accessible. In addition, the aim of the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) is to support investment in sporting infrastructure that will reinforce the principles outlined in the Department’s National Sports Policy including increased active participation in sport by disabled people. In considering investment in infrastructure that meets this aim, one of the main criteria on which LSSIF projects were assessed and scored was their ability to improve the quantity and quality of active participation in sport for disabled people.
