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The stark statistic that highlights the dearth of sports facilities in south Dublin's inner city

The Capital Sports Grant system has come under a fair bit of scrutiny since a private school in S...



The stark statistic that highl...
Soccer

The stark statistic that highlights the dearth of sports facilities in south Dublin's inner city

The Capital Sports Grant system has come under a fair bit of scrutiny since a private school in Sport Minister Shane Ross' constituency received a €150,000 grant for their hockey pitch.

To discuss the wider issues and implications, we were joined by UCD professor of Irish history and Sports history Paul Rouse and Sunday Independent sports writer and editor John Greene.

Greene suggested that the Capital Sports Programme should be suspended until its efficacy can be examined fully.

"I'd like to see it suspended for the moment. I'd like to see a complete review of what do we want," said Greene.

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The stark statistic that highlights the dearth of sports facilities in south Dublin's inner city

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"What are we trying to achieve first of all and then take a look around the country. And if that takes two years, it takes two years. Let the money that we would have spent accumulate and then when the time comes, spend it where we need to spend it."

One area that is lacking facilities is South Dublin inner city and Rouse shared some very stark statistics about what is missing there. 

"If you want to see the great example of this is to go to the south inner city of Dublin," he said.

"In the south inner city of Dublin, in a population with an area of 50,000 people, there is no playing field - there is actually no playing field at all.

"There are 10 primary schools in the south inner city with around 2,500 students in those schools. There is not one blade of grass in any of those schools. They have no playing facilities."  

He added, "No GAA pitch, no rugby pitch, no full size soccer pitch, nothing!"

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