A recent report from Barnardos shows that children are going without activities and sport due to a lack of money. A total of 44% of parents surveyed said that they are cutting back on social activities and entertainment, 19% are cutting back on local sport activity participation and 16% are cutting back on school activities and trips. We must close this participation gap. As Chair of the children and equality committee, we recently published a report on child poverty and deprivation that had 60 recommendations, six of which we outlined for priority implementation. One of those is an activity card to tackle play poverty and remove the cost barrier to children in learning to play a sport or an instrument. We must ensure our children in low-income families, IPAS facilities or emergency accommodation do not miss out on the opportunity for friendship, confidence and physical development that play and extracurricular activities bring. There is a programme for Government commitment on a culture card, but the activity card must go beyond arts and culture to capture sport, music and the right to play and participation.

The Deputy quite rightly outlined the challenges in this regard and how important it is to get equality of access and opportunity, which is a key theme. I support the Deputy's call to ensure that we have activity, regardless of age or socio-economic status. We must also progress the commitment in the sports for all approach, which is key on behalf of the Government. I will raise the Deputy's ideas in that regard with the Minister for sport. I commend her on driving this issue forward. This gives people opportunity. It is an investment in our children, our future, to be active and, essentially, bring them into the community, integrate them more and give them the best possibility of living a healthy life, which has huge additional benefits. We do not want any child to be held back by poverty. There is a poverty unit in the Department of the Taoiseach now. In relation to budget 2026, we focused on the child support payment and having a separate budget for child poverty, which we need to accelerate in the years ahead.