Sport featured in a positive manner yesterday with the announcement of the budget for 2014 but when the dust settled and the actual figures emerged on current spending, it was very much a case of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The best news, announced by Minister Brendan Howlin, was the creation of another round of Sports Capital Grants. The last round delivered €26 million to 615 projects around the country and €4 million more to national schemes. They have delivered a genuine boost to sporting infrastructure and local job creation.
They were the first round of grants in four years and a second batch in quick succession in difficult times is a good result. That the money will come from a special allocation of €200 million derived from the sale of the National Lottery License will be looked at in greater depth in the coming days but for now this is a good news story for sport.
Additional to those funds for club projects, a commitment was also made to providing investment for the completion of a national indoor training arena at the National Sports Campus. Little detail is available yet but it is likely that the model followed will be similar to that of other facilities on the campus where they will be run as commercial entities in order to make them sustainable.
One issue that needs to be considered is what facility will be incorporated into the new build. There is already a national indoor running track as part of the Athlone Institute of Technology. This was officially opened earlier this year by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and is supported strongly by Athletics Ireland. It has been hailed as one of the best in Europe and has already hosted national indoor Championships.
To build a second indoor athletics facility might not be the most efficient use of funds and lead to the creation of two facilities neither of which might be used to full capacity.
Other sports can of course benefit from an indoor arena and these would include court sports like Volleyball, Basketball, Netball and Handball as well as boxing which could be the biggest winner, as well as delivering the best results from the new facility.
Another to spring to mind could be cycling. An indoor velodrome might be technically challenging and may not leave enough physical space for other sports to draw the greatest benefit but careful thought needs to go into the kind of facility that has now been enabled.
The bad news emerged after the speeches when a cut of €3.1 million in current funding through the Irish Sports Council was revealed in the detailed budget documents.
This brings the annual investment by Government in the current spending and delivery of programmes to its lowest point since 2006 and will, if implemented lead to cuts in programmes, fewer jobs within development teams and a nation where fitness, health and self esteem will go backwards.
One other country in the world has revealed details of its 2014 budget this week. In Zambia the investment in sporting programmes has nearly double from K67 million to K120 million. The head of the National Olympic Committee hailed it as underscoring the importance of sport in job creation and the development of a healthy nation.
It is a shame that such words cannot be spoken this morning by our own Olympic Council President Pat Hickey.
The ugly future that yesterday’s budget brings into focus is one where we will have a better sporting infrastructure, with halls, courts and proper facilities to be proud of but with fewer people having had their eyes opened at a young age to the magic of sport and being lost to its allure as players.
Ireland spends 3,000 times the amount on treating people who are ill than on preventing them falling ill in the first place. Our priorities are all wrong in that respect but there is an opportunity to step back and make a positive change.
The annual budget is a mammoth task. Even within the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the capital spending programme is almost 60% bigger that any other department.
Culture has seen cuts of €12 million and overseas aid of €14 million, not to mention the changes in pension and social welfare payments that are ringing across the airwaves and the breakfast tables.
Sport is only one facet of a complex equation but now that money has been made available we need to make an argument that some element of the capital money be diverted back towards building capacity to deliver sport not just to house it.
We need children playing games and developing their skills through coaching, science and having the right space in which to achieve their potential.
The life and smiles they bring are what attracts public interest and it is that which brings in commercial supporters to put their shoulder to the wheel in effective support of meaningful programmes.
Every day within Sport for Business we highlight great ways in which sport can make everyday life that little better. The money is there from Government. We need though to push for it to be spent in ways that make the greatest sustainable difference in terms of health, wellbeing, jobs and economic activity.
If we fail to try we will be looked back on by future generations with a shake of the head and a question of why what was good for Zambia could not be seen in Ireland.
Sports Analytics Round Table ** Sports Tourism Seminar ** Irish Sponsorship Awards ** Sports Philanthropy Round Table ** Youth Sports Conference ** Sport for Business 20/20 for 2015
