Paul Rouse: Learning and skills shouldn't be confined to primary school classroom

Micheál Martin acknowledged that the provision of PE in Irish schools has been “historically problematic”, and he also made a pledge to Joe Molloy, saying “I will get on it.” 

James Burke, then aged 5, from Athenry GAA Club, Co Galway in 2016: Ireland’s policy on sport is a patchwork operation that depends on children having the good fortune to be born in certain areas. Picture: Cody Glenn/Sportsfile

The fascinating interview that Micheál Martin gave to Joe Molloy on Off The Ball last week laid bare the many disconnections and, indeed, failures of State policy in Ireland in relation to sport.

This is not Micheál Martin’s fault; it is a legacy of a century of dislocated thinking on the place of sport in the Irish education system. It is a dislocation that means the sports policy in Ireland does not even manage to be the sum of its parts. Instead, it is a patchwork operation that depends inordinately on children having the good fortune to be born in certain areas and be taught by certain teachers.