Sport Ireland has announced an investment of €40 million to National Governing Bodies for Sport (NGBs), High Performance athlete support and to the network of Local Sports Partnerships for 2021.
The funding of €13.8 million for NGB’s represents the contribution towards their core operations and programme activity and is in line with the figures that were distributed in 2020.
Additional money has been held in reserve to mitigate the impact of the continued massive disruption being felt across the sporting spectrum due to Covid-19 and the associations restriction on activities.
Referencing the impact of the past twelve months the introduction to the publication says that “2020 has been an extraordinarily difficult and challenging year for organised sport. Significant levels of National Governing Bodies (NGBs) activities including training, competition, coaching and mass participation events were scaled down, postponed or cancelled due to Covid-19. From March until May 2020, all organised sport ceased with sports only returning to phased activity from May onwards.”
“A key priority for Sport Ireland is the protection of the sports sector from any permanent financial or strategic harm to ensure it has the capacity to make a significant contribution to the public health of the nation in a post-Covid era. Sport Ireland recognise that for the sports sector to recover quickly from the public health crisis, it is critical for NGBs to continue to retain the requisite staff and structures.”
“In November & December 2020, Sport Ireland distributed an unprecedented €70 million funding package across the Irish sports sector. The funding aimed to address the immediate threat to National Governing Bodies and their club networks, allowing sports organisations to offset any significant losses incurred due to the pandemic.”
Field Sports
Additional funding was announced at the same time in support of the three major field sports with €2.38 million going to the GAA and €2.25 million to the IRFU to support coaching and games development.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding agreed between the Government and the FAI, €5.8 million in funding will be made available for football development programmes, pending approval by the Board of Sport Ireland, and related to continued progress on reforms arising from the troubles of the past two years.
That funding will be especially important for football and marks another significant step back into a more normal relationship with Sport Ireland, the distributor of all government funding for sport.
All of the remaining sports have maintained the same level of funding as they got last year as part of this funding.
Special Olympics Ireland is the biggest beneficiary of €1.4 million, followed by Athletics Ireland with €1 million, Swim Ireland with €950,000, Horse Sport Ireland with €930,000, Basketball Ireland with €740,000 and Irish Boxing with €500,000.
14 more sports including the LGFA, Cricket Ireland, Tennis Ireland, the camogie Association, Cycling Ireland, Irish Sailing, Badminton Ireland, Gymnastics IrelandRowing Ireland, Golf Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Sport and Canoeing Ireland benefit to between €250,000 and €500,000.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland and Paralympics Ireland get €420,000 and €400,000 respectively towards High-performance Operations and Administrative Support.
High Performance
In terms of High-Performance Programme funding 21 sports share an additional €8.5 million with Athletics, Sailing and Boxing the top three.
Similarly to the core funding, the individual amounts are exactly a match to what was distributed in 2020.
130 athletes and six teams are given individual funding based on their performance and potential. They share funding of €2.68 million
Among these are 13 athletes with Thomas Barr, Ciara Mageean and Brendan Boyce on the top level of €40,000; six from Badminton, five from Canoeing, 22 cyclists and para cyclists, 15 boxers with Kellie Harrington, Kurt Walker, Michaela Walsh and Aoife O’Rourke on the top level; one Clay pigeon shooter, five from judo, nine sailors, one from Taekwondo, 15 Paralympians from Athletics and swimming including five at the highest level; three pentathletes; 15 Rowers including six at €40,000, 17 from swimming, one from Table tennis and five triathletes.
Local Sport
The Local Sports Partnership Network, delivering programmes on the ground around the country gets a 15 per cent rise on last year’s funding to a total of €9.5 million.
The Federation of Irish Sport gets €115,000 and Student Sport Ireland €60,000 while Cara gets €130,000 towards its work in inclusion and disability.
“The past year has shown us yet again the important role that sport and physical activity plays in our lives and the vital contribution it makes to our physical and mental wellbeing,” said Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin.
“I am delighted to announce today’s funding to the sport sector to further assist the work of National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships to encourage people to be more active and to support their ongoing development. In Budget 2021, the Government made a commitment to support the sector and we are engaging closely with the sector to ensure their needs are met and that sport will emerge from the Covid-19 crisis in a strong position.”
“Ireland has big ambitions on the international stage and the funding announced today will assist in furthering these ambitions,” added Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht Jack Chambers.
“While the Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed in 2020, the hard work and commitment from our high performance athletes, their National Governing Bodies and their support teams has continued over the past year and we are all now greatly looking forward to the summer games and beyond. This funding will provide certainty to our organisations after this difficult period and cover costs like coach development, hosting of events and delivering strategic plans. I am also very pleased we are once again providing ring-fenced funding for the Women in Sport programmes through the Local Sports Partnerships.”
“Throughout 2020, the network of 29 LSPs continued to help people get active in their communities by removing barriers to physical activity, concluded Sport Ireland CEO, John Treacy.
“They adapted quickly to the new “virtual” landscape and rolled out a broad range of local and national initiatives targeted at all the different cohorts of people. This funding will help LSPs continue this work and ensure that everyone in our society has the opportunity to share in the enjoyment as well as the mental and physical health benefits of sport and physical activity. But now we look forward, toward an Olympic and Paralympic Games, to the reopening of sport and physical activity for the general public and a light at the end of the tunnel. There is cause for optimism as children’s sport and some outdoor activity returns and we look forward to even more opportunities to enjoy sport and physical activity in the months ahead”.
Sport Ireland, the Department of Tourism, Culture, the Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as well as 30 National Governing Bodies of Sport in Ireland, Local Sports Partnerships, Cara and others mentioned in this story are members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
Sport for Business Partners
