1578. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when a nationwide audit of sport facilities will take place as per the national sports policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35306/19]

The current position is that my Department is engaging with Sport Ireland in relation to the possible integration of an audit of all sports facilities with the development of a comprehensive national database of Sport & Recreation Amenities, which the Agency is separately considering already. I believe that a comprehensive database of all general recreation amenities such as public parks, walks, trails, cycle paths and swimming areas, in addition to specific sports facilities, has considerable potential to benefit many different user groups. Such groups would include the general public, doctors / healthcare professionals, planners, tourists, persons with a disability, the emergency services and app developers. The full audit itself is likely to take a number of years to complete and consideration will need to be given to undertaking the work on a phased basis.

The question of how best to proceed will also be discussed by the Sports Leadership Group and other stakeholders such as Healthy Ireland and local authorities in the coming weeks. Following these discussions, it is hoped to have a strategy settled for how the audit will be undertaken before the end of this year.