Minister takes issue with sports restrictions
A Galway Minister has written to her party colleague and senior Minister in the Department of Health to express her concerns that additional restrictions introduced on outdoor sports training sessions will leave children feeling isolated and excluded.
In a letter, seen by the Connacht Tribune, Fianna Fáil Minister Anne Rabbitte sought clarity from Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, as to whether the 15-person limit applied to the entire GAA grounds, or whether or not teams could be split into separate groups – therefore maintaining physical distancing.
The Galway East TD said children have had to adhere to restrictions for months now which was understandable, but expressed fears that the Government might negate progress that had been made in recent weeks to bolster their physical and mental wellbeing.
Minister Rabbitte said if training sessions were limited to 15, and juvenile players had to be left at home while others trained, some would feel excluded – she called for clear guidelines that groups could train at the same time but in separate groups, something she said would be far more inclusive.
She said that, as a mother of children who play camogie and football, she knows all too well its importance and pointed out that if numbers were limited to 15 with trainers included ‘large swathes of children will be left behind’.
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