There has been significant talk of budget giveaways ahead of today’s announcement on tax and spending for the next twelve months. The fact it will be the last before an election means it is inevitable there will be goodies for as many voting groups as can be accommodated but what can sport expect.
Last week’s announcement of the €40 million in capital grants being distributed across 891 projects and 45 sports will be seen within Government as a major boost for sport and described as a major commitment by Minister Michael Ring and officials last week.
They are right in that 90% of the projects initiated under the two previous rounds of the scheme have resulted in a positive lift in participation and money going into sport is to be welcomed in every form, particularly one where local communities benefit and jobs are created.
Today’s spending plans will include the current side of the equation, the core funding which the Government will give to Sport Ireland ( formerly the Irish Sports Council) to then distribute between the national Governing Bodies of Sport, from the GAA, FAI and IRFU all the way through to the smallest of the bodies like the Horseshoe Pitchers Association who this year received €3,520 in core funding.
The overall amount distributed to the Governing bodies is still down 26% on the peak of funding in 2007 but it has risen slightly in each of the last two years and is expected to do so again this year.
Last years core funding to the NGB’s rose from €10.77 million to €10.85 million with an additional €600,000 pledged to Women’s sporting programmes.
The high performance funding which went to 22 sports was also up from €7.3 million to €8.1 million with a special boost aimed at assisting qualification for the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The overall amount given to sport through the Irish Sports Council, excluding the Capital Sports Grant scheme was €42.5 million in last years budget. This was the same as received in 2014 but was supplemented with special grants to high performance funding and to Special Olympics ahead of this years World Games.
Sport will be looking for that figure to rise this year as spending restrictions loosen in an overall context. It may yet be that a delay to the signing off and publication of the National Physical Activity Plan will see some money held back to enable sport to fully support that in the ways that it should but there is still an expectation that the core number will be bigger than last years.
The Federation of Irish Sport called last week for a return to pre-recession levels, and a reverse of the 26% drop since the peak, but that will take longer to materialise, even if the real amounts are small compared to money spent on health, education and social welfare.
The numbers relating to the Sport Ireland grant are unlikely to make it into the actual speeches today but will be available online later this evening and Sport for Business will bring you the latest details as they emerge together with more analysis in tomorrow’s Daily Digest.
In an ideal world they will include a multi-year commitment so as to enable planning take longer than the current 12 month cycle but again this may be aspirational for the time being.
The other sporting interest in today’s budget will lie in the separate funding to Horse and Greyhound Racing that will also be confirmed for the year ahead.
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