Both Sport Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport have welcomed the increase in funding for the sport sector and support for rising energy costs announced in this week’s Budget 2023.
“The additional supports allocated to support the high-performance system and the identification of coaching as a key area of investment will be hugely beneficial to athletes, coaches and high-performance programmes,” said Sport Ireland Chair Kieran Mulvey.
“The core funding available will assist National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships contribute towards objectives outlined in the Government’s National Sports Policy.
“Sport Ireland hopes to be in a position to unveil its Master Plan for the Sport Ireland Campus in the very near future, and we look forward to continuing the further development of what is already an iconic venue.”
“We thank Minister Martin and Minister Chambers and their colleagues in Government, for their ongoing support for sport and physical activity.”
“Cost of living has been identified as a critical challenge for the wider sport sector, with rising energy costs, in particular, proving very difficult for the National Governing Bodies and their clubs to manage,” added CEO Dr Una May.
“The €35 million fund set aside to counter these costs will provide much-needed stability to the sport system during these challenging times.”
“Sport Ireland is working on a framework for the allocation of this funding and will communicate this through the National Governing Bodies in due course.”
The Ministers have also highlighted their support for sports measures via the Dormant Accounts Funding to target hard-to-reach communities including people with disabilities to promote and sustain participation in sport and physical activity.
“Over many years the Dormant Accounts Fund has proved incredibly successful, with a range of meaningful interventions and programmes having a demonstrable impact on the activity levels of hard-to-reach groups.”
“We look forward to working with our funded bodies to roll out new and innovative programmes that contribute towards the National Sport Action Plan actions.”
The Federation of Irish Sport highlighted the positive that since the publication of the National Sport Policy in 2018 there has been an increase of 57 per cent on the 2018 budget for sport (111m) to a budget of €174.8m in 2023.
In addition, current funding to Sport Ireland in 2023 is €89.448m which is an increase of 73 per cent on the figure of €51.6m in 2018.
“The Federation welcomes the energy subsidy provision in Budget 2023 for the sector as it is much needed to keep our facilities running during the winter months,” said CEO Mary O’Connor.
“We are encouraged that the increase in funding will provide the necessary means to support NGBs and LSPs in their work and is an indication of the government’s commitment to support the core activities of our members.”
The Federation also pressed that the measures proposed by it in relation to fulfilling Action 3.7 of the Sports Policy action plan 2021-2023, will provide the Department of Finance, and Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media with feasible reforms to the taxation system to have a sustained solution to reducing NGB and LSP reliance on government funding and that it looks forward to working with Minister Chambers and the department further on this matter.
It also said that it will continue to engage on the important topics of sugar tax reallocation and the tackling of the scourge of problematic gambling. Both of which will continue to be a burden on the nation if not addressed.
