Stormont debate on Dungiven sports facilities: full video

The minutes from the debate can be found below.

Mr Deputy Speaker: The proposer of the topic shall have 15 minutes, and all other Members who wish to speak will have approximately seven minutes.

Mr Ó hOisín: Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Tá mé breá sásta páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht atrátha seo faoi ionad spóirt faoi dhíon agus áiseanna eile spóirt i nDún Geibhinn agus a cheantar. I am very pleased that my topic was accepted for debate, although that perhaps reflects the anger in the local community about the issue. We had a public meeting in August, and the anger was palpable, so I hope to address some of the outstanding issues that came from that.

First and foremost, I declare an interest as a sports club official, because of my community involvement and because I was part of the management committee of the Dungiven sports pavilion, which is one of the facilities that we are talking about.

Dungiven is rightly famous for its sporting achievements and the wide variety of sporting codes practised in the area, be it athletics, boxing, GAA, soccer, bowls, badminton, handball, tennis, ladies’ football, camogie, angling, boccia, squash, kick-boxing, golf, cycling and, believe it or not, we once had a cricket team as well.

I took exception to what Basil McCrea said about people riding on the coat-tails of some of our better-known sportspeople. Some of them, particularly some of the local ones, cut their teeth in amateur sports, where it was the efforts of volunteers to create the facilities that took them to sporting prowess in later life.

I think particularly of St Canice’s ABC in Dungiven, which has had almost an embarrassment of champions down through the years. Probably the most famous is Paul McCloskey, who was Irish, British and European light welterweight champion before he challenged — unfortunately, unsuccessfully — for the WBA light welterweight title in 2012. Likewise, his colleague Eamonn O’Kane — he was not referred to by name earlier — led the Commonwealth team that went to India in 2010 and returned with, I think, five medals, including three gold.

We also had five all-Ireland winners from the parish of Dungiven on the 1993 team: Brian McGilligan, Richard Ferris, Kieran McKeever, Eugene Kelly and Joe Brolly. Three went on to receive all-star awards. Jim McGroarty played professional soccer for Stoke City in England. In the Paralympics, Denis McMacken was the bowls gold medallist and world Paralympic champion. We also have a double amputee, Ryan O’Connor, a great young sportsman, and I want to touch on what he has done later. Of course, we have Special Olympians who competed for Ireland, such as Damien Murphy in swimming and bowls.

The current council facilities in the area are far from ideal. The council owns one pitch, which for much of the season is swamped. It has no floodlights, and the changing facilities are a converted shipping container. Recent building surveys of the sports pavilion building have shown that it is not fit for purpose. It was built in 1984 and is probably due for demolition and replacement shortly. Indeed, one recent survey showed such a deterioration that the showers, which have not been in use for some time, are a potential source of legionella.

The roof is leaking, the floor is lifting, and the entire building is not disability-accessible. Ryan O’Connor, one of our elite Paralympian athletes, cannot even use the sports pavilion.

Estimates are that it would require £1 million to rectify this. In fairness to the council, it had identified the requirement for new facilities some time ago. With that in mind, Limavady Borough Council commenced work on the delivery of replacement facilities, including the potential purchase of additional land adjacent to the existing buildings. A timeline was rolled out for delivery, including the consultation, which had over 200 people in attendance, including 70 clubs, organisations and individuals. An economic appraisal began this year, and a bid was made to DCAL for £2·5 million. That was agreed and accepted by the statutory transition committee.

In May, the Department of the Environment deemed that projects over £250,000 would need shadow council approval. That happened when the council was on the cusp of appointing a design team. We then had the elections, and, at its July meeting, the Causeway Coast and Glens super-council delayed the project for a one-month moratorium. There was a suggestion of an audit of Causeway Coast and Glens council facilities, including the Dungiven project.

Last week, an all-party group visited Dungiven and the Limavady borough and was shocked at the provision of facilities. There was a question mark over the costings of the entire project, but, given the commitments under the Programme for Government, the framework document and some newspaper and media speculation about the costings being up to £7 million, I am not sure how they could have come to such a conclusion, given that, at no point, had a design team been appointed. The costings of the design team are much less than that.

Mr McQuillan: I thank the Member for giving way. How did DCAL decide to give £2·2 million to a project that has not been costed?

Mr Ó hOisín: In answer to the question from the Member opposite, I think that the bid came from the council. Obviously, the overall spend will be more than £2·5 million, but what I am saying is that the figure of £7 million may or may not prove practical. It may — indeed, it should — come in at a lot less than that.

We also have to consider that it is a capital spend over 25 or 30 years. I know that, during my time in council — I am sure that George Robinson will remember this as well — when we delivered the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre for £4 million, that worked out at an increase of about 28p a year to our ratepayers over that time. We also delivered the Scroggy Road 3G pitch for £650,000, which was fully funded. This is all part of an ongoing project that we have been trying to deliver. Unfortunately, some people voted against that. Indeed, some of the people who voted against it do not leave the place now and are very pleased with it, but that is enough about that.

There is some talk of legal challenges, which may happen, but I can assure Members that there is huge local anger because of the lack of provision. We should not involve ourselves in zero-sum politics, because equality delayed is equality denied. I believe that it is totally unreasonable —

Mr Campbell: Will the Member give way?

Mr Ó hOisín: Yes, go ahead.

Mr Campbell: The Member says that there is a lot of anger. If there have been campaigns for sporting provision, one can understand that people want them to be delivered, but is the anger directed against an audit of provision per se to try to ensure equitable treatment across the new council, or is the anger directed in some other way?

Mr Ó hOisín: I think that the anger is directed at the dereliction, which has existed for historical reasons, and the fact that we do not have the facilities that we deserve and require. It is unreasonable for the Causeway Coast and Glens council to refuse to allow Limavady Borough Council to appoint a design team. After all, this is not the issuing of a contract; it is costings —

Mr Swann: Will the Member give way?

Mr Ó hOisín: Yes, go ahead.

Mr Swann: I am looking for a point of information on the appointment of a design team. If there is the potential for a legal challenge — I think that Sean McGlinchey, a Sinn Féin councillor, mooted that legal challenge — would that delay the appointment of a design team in any way?

Mr Ó hOisín: I am not sure that I got the meaning of the Member’s question. I think that the legal challenge might be on disability access, for a start. or it might be on overall sporting provision. That is where the legal challenge will probably come from.

There is also the aspect of the interdependence of funding for the Rugby Avenue project in Coleraine, so I appeal for all-party unity on the delivery of all those projects for all the people of the new council area. I do not want to see any repeat of the deliberate dereliction of responsibility for the provision of sporting and community facilities. It has not been a very auspicious start for the new council, but I hope that it is not beyond redemption. I welcome the Minister’s commitment to all the projects. There is a workshop next Wednesday, 8 October, and we encourage our council colleagues to attend and do as the Minister said, in her reply to an oral question from me on 16 September:

“I imagine that that position should be, and will be, sorted out with local representatives in the new council configuration and, indeed, with officials that are there. When I made my investment to Coleraine Borough Council, I was very clear that it was part of a north-west legacy plan. Maybe the officials there, or even the elected reps, did not fully understand the implications and the import of that. I urge all local representatives, along with officials from both council areas, to come together to try to get the matter resolved, because proper sporting facilities are required in the Dungiven area.” — [Official Report, Vol 97, No 4, p46, col 1].

I hope that other Members concur.

Mr Campbell: As I said to the proposer of the Adjournment debate in my intervention, it is difficult to establish where the anger is directed. I drive past an exhibition of it every day I pass through the town of Dungiven, where a huge banner says, “Dungiven says Yes, but the Causeway Coast and Glens Super Council says No”. Of course, there have been a number of very unfortunate comments made by a Sinn Féin councillor, amongst others. They were referred to by Mr Swann. That councillor indicated that, in his view, this was a sectarian decision. I noticed that in the 10 minutes and 30 seconds that Mr Ó hOisín took to propose the debate he did not, on any occasion, mention the S-word. I just wonder whether Sinn Féin has had a rethink. I hope they have, and if so I would welcome it, because I fail to see how trying to establish an audit of sporting provision across the new council area — to establish what is required, where it is required and the best way to deliver it — could be regarded as a sectarian decision. The Member wants to intervene.

Mr Ó hOisín: I thank the Member for giving way. The change of mind perhaps happened when part of that audit was carried out. A visit was made to the facilities in Dungiven and people actually saw the state of the facilities. So, there have certainly been changes of mind.

Mr Campbell: I am not much clearer now on whether there has been a change of mind on the use of the S-word. I thought that I was giving way for the Member to establish that, but I am afraid that he went off on a tangent.

The bottom line here is that every public representative wants to ensure that there is sporting provision across his or her constituency. As regards this Adjournment debate, that applies across East Londonderry. No one wants to see any sporting discipline, group of people, village or town denied sporting facilities. One would imagine that the audit will show what has been provided and where it has been provided. Hopefully, it will show that there are other locations that equally need provision. I hope that, at the conclusion of the debate, there will be consensus that sporting provision should be made across the district, irrespective of who the people are, as has been the case in the past. I noted what Mr Ó hOisín said in relation to my intervention about where the anger is directed.

You could conclude from his response that the anger of local people in Dungiven was directed against what is a nationalist council in Limavady for not providing what it is they are now trying to get through the new super-council. I was seeking to establish where the anger was directed. Was it at the decision to have an audit? It does not appear to be. Yet, he said that it was directed at those whose delivery previously had been some sort of historical underachievement. Of course, the people who deliver in local government are Limavady Borough Council. The largest party in Limavady Borough Council is Sinn Féin. Therefore, I do not know whether we have today a Sinn Féin MLA criticising Sinn Féin councillors for not providing sporting provision in Dungiven, but that is what it sounds like.

Hopefully, we can get to an end where we do have that consensus and there is a determination to reach a position across the constituency and the Causeway Coast and Glens District Council area where that audit is carried out and completed and that the end result of that is equality of provision right across the council area for everyone irrespective of their religious or political belief.

Mr Dallat: I live in the neighbouring council area. I have a lot of sympathy for the people of Dungiven who apparently did not get the nod to go ahead with the design exercise. That is all that it was. Cathal Ó hOisín, in his introduction, mentioned all those famous people in Dungiven. I just want to remind him that we have Hannah Shields, who climbed Everest, and Martin O’Neill, who, of course, needs no explanation to anyone. Every community is proud of their people, particularly their young people, and they want to see the best provision for them. In recent times, because of health issues and so on, sport and such activities have become lifelong. The centre in Dungiven certainly did that.

I know that all of us could regret the past. I spent 33 years in Coleraine Borough Council. I hope that I do not cause offence by saying that it was unionist dominated. Every inch had to be fought for. There were no gifts.

Mr Campbell: You were the mayor.

Mr Dallat: I picked up Gregory Campbell saying that I was the mayor. The council came into being in 1973. It is finishing next year. In that span, there has been one nationalist mayor.

Mr Campbell: How many councillors were there?

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order.

Mr Dallat: I worried about Limavady and Dungiven in particular when the three models were mentioned; the seven-, 11- and 15-council models. I realised that if the seven- or 11-council model was chosen, a nationalist-controlled council was going into a completely new environment. I pleaded with Alex Attwood to support the 15-council model. At the Executive meeting — I hate to say this, but it is true — Martin McGuinness, after 10 minutes of debate, forced a vote, and we were left with the 11-council model. It means that actually only two councils switched — if we need to talk in those terms. They were Limavady Borough Council and Moyle District Council. Both happened to be in the new Causeway Coast and Glens District Council area. I was actually glad to hear Gregory say the name because apparently they cannot even agree on that. No; they cannot agree on that. The “Glens” part somehow causes problems to them and they need to get “Coleraine” into it.

With my 33 years’ experience in Coleraine Borough Council, I would not wish that on anyone. Sporting facilities in Coleraine included 22 soccer pitches and no Gaelic games pitches. Only when legal action was threatened did that change. I can tell you that when the councils began to be a little more generous toward GAA clubs, it changed the whole atmosphere of the place. I am sure that the Minister would agree with me that sport is something that should bring people together. My God, it has in recent times. [Inaudible.]

Mr Deputy Speaker: All remarks must be made through the Chair, please.

Mr Dallat: I just find it impossible to accept that the same individuals who sat on Limavady Borough Council supported the project going to the design stage, and then, when they got in with their new cronies in Coleraine, they changed their minds. I would not call anybody a Judas — God forbid, I would never do that — but that is exactly what they did. They put one hand up to support the project in Limavady, and then the other one. You can say what you like, but that is what they did. That is an awfully bad start for a new council, and it certainly did not do anything for the type of unity that we need across the new council area. I do not want to see the new council being a microcosm of what went before.

Mr McQuillan: I thank the Member for giving way. Does he think that the audit that the Causeway Coast and Glens District Council — I will say it as well, John; I have no problem with it — is carrying out is a good thing or a bad thing?

Mr Dallat: I am really grateful to my former colleague from Coleraine Borough Council. I have very fond memories of him sitting on the other side, barging across at me. You need to bear in mind that the shadow council started voting on single projects. Then, when it got down to the last three, which included the Dungiven project, it had a multiple vote. I know that I am being a suspicious person. Why do you think that happened? I will take your advice not to talk across the Floor, although it is very tempting to do it.

Adrian intervened there. Of course audits are very important, but this was not committing the new council to anything; it was only asking it to proceed to design stage. It was not being asked to pay any money; the money was already provided by the old council, which is going out of business next April.

Mr Campbell: I thank the Member for giving way. I thought that Mr McQuillan’s question was fairly straightforward: whether Mr Dallat thought that the audit was a good thing or a bad thing. I posed that question to Mr Ó hOisín, but I did not get a response either. I thought that Mr Dallat might have responded about whether he thought that it was a good thing.

Mr Dallat: I would be very surprised if Mr Campbell did not think that his colleague on that Bench was talking an awful lot of sense, whether he was or not.

Audits are very important. Of course they are, but this was stopping a project that had already begun and that several years of planning had gone into. That is the difference. Why pick on it? Why pick on Dungiven? Was there something about that town that they did not like?

Mr McQuillan: Will the Member give way?

Mr Dallat: No. You have had your say, and I will have my couple of minutes of glory as well.

I want to conclude by saying to the ordinary people outside —

Mr Deputy Speaker: The Member should bring his remarks to a close.

Mr Dallat: — whether Protestant, Catholic or of no faith whatsoever, that this is not the way forward.

Mr Swann: First, I will explain to Members and the Minister why I am here today. It comes into the new Causeway Coast and Glens District Council area, which, as it will include Moyle and Ballymoney, will cover part of my constituency.

Mr Campbell: You can say it, too.

Mr Swann: I can say it, too. I have no shame nor embarrassment in saying it.

I think it was back in May when the Member for East Antrim Oliver McMullan brought an Adjournment debate about leisure facilities in Moyle. I thought that this would be along the same lines. At that stage, unfortunately, the Environment Minister responded because somehow they had put that responsibility under Environment rather than DCAL, even though it was about sporting provision. We got round that debate anyway. One of the things that I realised between that debate and today’s, and which I think is important in regard to the audit, was that the motion that Sinn Féin brought about the lack of sporting provision and facilities in Moyle and the glens was on the same basis as they are talking about the lack of sporting provision in Dungiven. I thought that that is where an audit of the entire Causeway Coast and Glens area would bring those two problems together. At that stage, by conducting that audit, which I think was proposed by my party colleague Councillor William McCandless, the entire sporting provision would be looked at.

When you look at some of the recommendations of Sport NI, there are some areas in the Causeway Coast and glens that are oversubscribed with pitches and facilities. We should look towards an equality —

Mr Ó hOisín: I thank the Member for giving way. I want to refer to something that was said earlier. A number of the projects went through and were approved, so what was the problem with the remaining ones? What were the issues there? Did they have to be seen, especially when they came from the old councils and not the new council, and, as others alluded to, at no cost to the new council?

Mr Swann: I thank the Member for bringing that up. It also explains another reason why I am here today. It was not just Dungiven that was stopped. That should be made clear. It is not the victimisation of Dungiven that this debate should be focused on. The four projects that were stopped were Dungiven, Benone, the Riada playing fields and the Joey Dunlop centre in Ballymoney in my constituency, which comes under the Causeway Coast and Glens District Council. This is not about nationalists or unionists stopping one facility or another; it was about establishing an audit of a number of new councils coming together —

Mr Dallat: Will the Member spare me just a moment?

Mr Swann: Certainly.

Mr Dallat: One of the features of the Dungiven project was that the funding from various sources was time-limited. In fact, I think that it was limited to September. Refusing to allow it to go to design stage put the project in jeopardy.

Mr Swann: That is the point that I was trying to make to Mr Ó hOisín earlier. When it was put in jeopardy, do you start to talk about legal proceedings? As far as I am aware, the audit concludes this month. I will stand corrected if any Member in the House can inform me of anything different. The funding being in jeopardy is the big thing. I am glad that the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure is here because I think that the DCAL funding was part of it.

I do not think that anybody here opposes support for sport; Mr Ó hOisín will know that from our time in the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure. When it came to the provision of libraries in rural communities, he fought for Dungiven as much as I fought for Kells, and we fought for a similar cause at that stage. The provision of sport across the entire Causeway Coast and glens is where the audit should be based and where we should be focusing for the ratepayers and the constituents in that area.

One thing that was highlighted — I know that Mr Campbell referred to the banner — I would almost take it personally that the decision by my council colleague was referred to as sectarian. If anybody here knows William McCandless, they will know that the man is far from sectarian. That is something that I want to clarify.

Mr McQuillan: I thank the Member for bringing the debate. I will give you a wee bit of background to the debate, but, before I start, I have to say that it tells you something about the debate today when we have Gregory Campbell calling for consensus and Mr Dallat and Mr Ó hOisín using the S-word. There is something powerfully wrong about that.

Mr Ó hOisín: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. At no point was the S-word used in my supposition.

Mr McQuillan: It should not matter whether it is Catholic or Protestant; it is a sporting facility that we are talking about here. John Dallat is the guy who brought it into the conversation.

A feasibility study was conducted by Otium Leisure Consultancy on behalf of Limavady Borough Council in 2012. Proposals therein included three main elements: the refurbishment or development of Dungiven Sports Pavilion; the relocation of an indoor community sports facility to an alternative site; and the need for and development of an outdoor sports facility. The report was intended not to identify a preferred option for development but to put forward a range of solutions. Its basis included a consultation with the local sports club and community groups. It claimed that a consultation meeting was attended by 160 people representing 21 sports clubs and 23 community groups. Local sports clubs have a membership of 3,200, so it was not that well attended if you take that into consideration. Seven options were outlined, ranging in capital outlay from £1·95 million to £7·22 million. It said that a full economic appraisal was required to further test the options and identify the preferred solution. It went on to suggest observations in its conclusions. Those include the assessment of need — demand clearly demonstrates the need — for indoor sports and community facilities and outdoor sports facilities. That points to options that deliver indoor and outdoor facilities on one or separate sites. It also recommended that the site at Ballyquin Road/Main Street could be enhanced with the inclusion of the ground that has the PSNI station on it presently.

We move forward to this year and to the Causeway Coast and Glens District Council. A capital workshop held in Flowerfield on 16 July recommended that the new council would have a capital spend programme of £8·8 million. The £7·1 million version of the Dungiven scheme came before the new shadow council on 24 July — it has not been costed, but it is still £7·1 million; I do not know where that came from — at its second meeting, along with other capital schemes from across the legacy councils. It was decided that decisions on all capital projects should be suspended for one month to enable officers to have more time to present more complete information on existing leisure provision in the area, other pipeline projects of significance to the new council area, population densities, travel times, demand and the impact that such schemes would have on rates etc. It was implied that a significant DCAL grant would be lost if the decision to proceed to the £250,000 design stage was not taken there and then. Our party felt that there was not enough information available to make an informed decision and that, on the face of it, spending £7 million to serve a population of 7,800 in Dungiven and district was disproportionate. There are modern leisure facilities in Limavady, Londonderry and Maghera, each 12 miles or less from Dungiven. Portstewart has a similar-sized population but has no council sporting leisure facilities, and we are not seeking to spend a similar sum on provision there.

Sinn Féin led calls for a special emergency meeting of Limavady Borough Council to discuss the situation — the meeting was held on 5 August — and of the Causeway council on 7 August. Ms Hickey endorsed the notice, giving Sinn Féin the eight names that it required to get the meeting called. It was agreed that decisions on all major capital projects not yet in contract should be deferred until October, giving the council officers time to put together a full appraisal of the current sport and leisure provision in the new council area and the impact of proposed projects on existing and other planned provision. The review would also examine population densities and travel times.

It should be noted that, when the decision to postpone making a commitment to the Dungiven scheme was taken, extension and improvement projects at the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre were also postponed to allow the council to take a fully informed decision from objective and relevant information. This is good governance and a responsible attitude to ratepayers’ money. It also caused some pain in our party grouping, as representatives from Ballymoney were keen to see the Joey Dunlop centre plan taken forward.

Mr Campbell: Will the Member give way?

Mr McQuillan: Yes.

Mr Campbell: The Member is outlining what Mr Swann outlined, which is that some of the other projects were also put on hold pending the audit. Is he aware of any campaigns or accusations or banners being put up at any of the other locations, all of which require sporting provision as well? I am not aware of that; perhaps the Member could outline it if he is aware of it.

Mr McQuillan: I thank the Member for his intervention. I do not know of any at all, so it is very odd that it is just Dungiven that has taken this stand.

The proposed scheme at Dungiven has not been refused; it is on hold pending completion of the sport and leisure facilities and services strategy development work for the new council area. The same type of work on leisure and sports projects in the Ballymoney and Coleraine areas is similarly on hold. It is not about Catholics and Protestants; it is about all the sporting facilities. There is nothing sectarian about it at all.

Mr Ó hOisín: I thank the Member for giving way. Does he realise that the Dungiven project was not only attracting moneys from a different source — namely DCAL, through the City of Culture legacy moneys — but had money set aside in Limavady Borough Council for the same projects? It was much further advanced than many of the other projects, including some of those that received approval.

Mr McQuillan: I thank the Member for that, but I am not sure what projects received the go-ahead on that night. I am talking about the three main projects, the three that will take up the most spending. We also have to be mindful of areas such as Moyle, which has no sport and leisure facilities at all. They will be looking for help to build something there. I also know that Loughgiel GAA is looking to the Causeway council to help it to develop its ground.

As I said, the total capital spend for the Causeway council is £8·8 million. If it spends £7·2 million on the Dungiven project, the rest of the region will lose out. There is no doubt in my mind or the mind of anybody else who has visited the site that Dungiven needs some sort of facility, but it is about getting agreement on the facility that is required.

Mr G Robinson: Mr Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to speak in the debate. First, Dungiven has leisure facilities, and I will not argue that some facilities need to be updated. In March 2013, when I was a member of Limavady Borough Council, I opposed such large expenditure on a replacement facility in Dungiven. If that project had gone through, it would have cost ratepayers in the Limavady area a substantial rates hike. Secondly, I will tell the Assembly of some facility provision that exists within a four-mile radius of Dungiven. There are the Gortnahey GAA pitches; the Burnfoot pitches; the Curragh Road football pitches; the Curragh Road play facilities; St Canice GAC in Dungiven town; the Drumrane Road GAC pitch; the O’Brien’s state-of-the-art GAC facilities and council-provided play area; St Mary’s Banagher GAC in Feeny, which has just received planning permission for an extension; and the main leisure centre in Dungiven town, to name but a few. Does that sound like an area — Dungiven and its hinterlands — in which there is a lack of sports facility provision for a population of approximately 3,000?

The so-called sectarian decision, as it was referred to by a Sinn Féin councillor, to put on hold the redevelopment of a new replacement facility at a cost of approximately £7·2 million to ratepayers was not, in fact, sectarian but one of a series of projects deferred by the newly elected Causeway Coast and Glens District Council owing to capital costs. Those also included projects in Ballymoney and Coleraine that have been deferred until October of this year. How that project was deemed sectarian completely baffles me.

I believe that sport offers great benefits for the population, and facilities are required to ensure maximum engagement. However, those facilities cannot be built regardless of cost, especially when there is an economic crisis created by the party of the Member who proposed the topic and the SDLP. Perhaps the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure will state where the proposed grant aid will come from, as her budget will undoubtedly be cut as a result of the current political posturing. If there is no grant aid, the likelihood of the project reaching fruition will diminish. My concern is that, although other suitable options for the redevelopment of Dungiven leisure centre were presented, the most expensive option was pushed through by a nationalist-controlled council with little thought of the economic consequences to the local ratepayers.

I believe that a workable and sensible accommodation on the size and price of the project can eventually be reached when other overall projects throughout the new Causeway Coast and Glens District Council area are appraised. Let Sinn Féin and the SDLP be positive for once and bring the matter to a conclusion by behaving responsibly and by reaching consensus for an area that, in my opinion, is reasonably well catered for with sports facilities.

From a constituency point of view, I have no problem with facilities in any part of the Limavady borough area, but, in the present economic climate, with so many constituents unemployed, the new council has a massive task and needs to be prudent when making decisions on the whole area’s needs, economic and sporting. The facilities that I mentioned are just the facilities in the Dungiven area.

Ms Ní Chuilín (The Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure): Gabhaim buíochas le Cathal Ó hOisín as an díospóireacht. I thank Cathal Ó hOisín for bringing forward the Adjournment debate to the House and the five other Members who contributed to the debate. All the contributors spoke about the need for facilities in the new council area. I will bank that, because we need to move forward. I appreciate the fact that Robin Swann, through representing other aspects of the council, contributed to the debate, but, for me, this is primarily around the capital investment legacy of the City of Culture. I might not go into detail about projects in his constituency, but that is not to say that I am oblivious or agnostic about them, because I am not.

Mr Swann: Will the Minister give way?

Ms Ní Chuilín: Certainly.

Mr Swann: I think that Mr Ó hOisín said that this was connected to the Coleraine project. Just for clarity, what is the timeline on the funding for the legacy projects?

Ms Ní Chuilín: I imagine that the capital needs arising from the City of Culture in the city of Derry and the surrounding areas of Coleraine, Limavady, Dungiven and Strabane will not only come to the end of this mandate but, potentially, go into the next. Given that money is not flush, we may need to prudently organise and plan around having those facilities fulfilled if we can.

Mr McQuillan: Thank you, Minister, for giving way. Do you not agree that the Causeway Coast and Glens council is doing that? It is being prudent by asking for this audit and being careful.

Ms Ní Chuilín: I am trying to be generous, and I hope that that is the case. Coming out of this debate, very soon, I will ask Limavady and Coleraine councils and the Causeway Coast and Glens shadow council to come together for a meeting with me and my officials and their officials and elected representatives. I think that we need to assure each other that we are serious about sports provision regardless of where it comes from. It needs to be on the basis of need and not creed. So, if we are all agreed on that, that is a good way forward. I could lift a whole pile of stuff on sports provision in each of the constituencies that some of the sporting codes have brought themselves without the help of Sport NI or the lottery. That is not a good thing, but the fact is that, despite what was said about the population there, the population is growing. We have all been involved in debates about sporting provision, and we had one recently about the Commonwealth Games and even a velodrome. There is a wee bit of ‘Field of Dreams’ here: build it and they will come. You have to inspire people to become physically active, and you have to provide access to participation for them. If we can agree that that is a good way forward, we need to move forward.

People are suspicious about labels, and, if they feel that someone is potentially using bureaucracy to score points or potentially to be sectarian or to exclude, even if they are proved wrong, no one has the right to say that they have no right to say that even if they disagree. So, people have a right. Equally, I have a right to say to John Dallat, who I have huge respect for, without being patronising, that the Executive meeting that John described that Alex Attwood was at is not the same one that I was at. I will say no more than that.

The issue is that we have an opportunity. I want to go to my colleagues in the Executive as well, because it will involve working with my colleague Mark Durkan. I want to take the opportunity to wish him and Anne all the best on the birth of their baby daughter. Comhghairdeas daoibh. I want to talk to and work with Mark on planning what we need to do. I want to work with Mervyn Storey now in DSD, and, indeed, I want to work with other Departments. The bulk of this money will, hopefully, come from DCAL, with Executive colleague support.

Let us be honest: in that whole constituency over decades, there has not been the investment that it was entitled to. There has not been, and my constituency and other constituencies can also claim that. By claiming it, we throw it out and walk away. We need to do something with it. With the councils coming together, I do think that we have an opportunity to provide sport and physical activities, but we need to look at this with a can-do attitude. Two and a half million pounds is no mean feat, and £1·5 million in Coleraine is no mean feat. We are looking at Strabane, Derry and the outskirts in-between. I went and visited cricket facilities in Magheramason and other areas. I believe that the work that is done through sports is fantastic and needs support, but I do not think that our constituents need us coming here with big bust out crying faces and scoring political points. OK, stuff happened, and we need to move forward. In moving forward, the test for us all is this: what can we do?

I have visited Coleraine, Dungiven, Limavady and many areas in the constituency. There is a need for sporting facilities. How much it will cost and what those needs are for this mandate and future mandates is something that we need to work through, but, as sure as the day is long, there will be sporting facilities in those constituencies. Nobody is getting dragged to the table, but we can come with a collegiate approach from officials in the council areas, elected representatives and DCAL officials. We will have a meeting and work out what we need to do, where we need to go and how, collectively, we can provide constituents in the north-west with sporting facilities that are fit for purpose. The population in the area is growing, and doing that will provide a good stamp. It will be a stamp of value showing that there has been investment, and I believe that it will not only provide local employment, in the construction and post-construction phases, but will hopefully give people an opportunity to be healthier. It will provide a further opportunity for people, in that it has been proven that investment attracts more investment.

I welcome the debate, but, for me, the challenge is what we do next, and I am looking forward to working with you to achieve those facilities in the north-west.

Adjourned at 5.51 pm.