The Sport Ireland Bill 2014 which will merge the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus has been published and is expected to be laid before the Dáil in October. The provisions of the Act if passed could commence as early as the start of 2015.
The main purpose of the Bill is to provide for the establishment of a new statutory sports body, Sport Ireland, which merges the two existing sports bodies.
The full contents of the Bill can be read here.
“The Bill brings responsibility for the implementation of Irish sports policy under a single agency, Sport Ireland,” said Minister for Sport, Michael Ring at a press conference in Dublin yesterday.
“Sport Ireland will continue the work currently being done by the Council in promoting, developing and co-ordinating sport in Ireland and also the work of developing the National Sports Campus at Blanchardstown. I hope to have the Bill enacted during the next Dáil term and to establish Sport Ireland as early as possible.”
“The Bill provides a statutory basis for Ireland’s Anti-Doping Programme and the Irish Anti-Doping Rules. It also provides for sharing of information between Sport Ireland and relevant organisations, including the Irish Medicines Board, the Gardaí and Customs, which is an essential element in the fight against doping in sport”.
There are 18 functions listed as being the responsibility of the new body, among them the promotion of recreational sport, the support of elite athletes and the development of the National Sports Campus.
Encouraging Sponsorship
Listed at number 15 is the ‘Encouragement of Sponsorship for Competitive or Recreational sport.’ This is clearly an important area across sport of all sizes and while the market has been buoyed by a number of large and long term deals over the summer there remains a gap between what sport can deliver and what business sees as being a worthwhile investment.
A substantial part of the cost of any sponsorship is the VAT element, amounting to a non returnable expense for companies like insurance groups who do not charge VAT on as part of their charge to customers.
The Minister discussed the benefit to Tourism yesterday of a continuance of the reduced 9% VAT rate on restaurants and tourism focused activities.
Given the growth and importance of sport by way of international as well as domestic tourism, perhaps a bid to include sports sponsorship at a lower VAT rate would be useful in the forthcoming budget negotiations.
Rise in engagement
On a €120 million sponsorship market the money foregone by a reduction from 23% to 9% would be less than €15 million but it is entirely possible that the rise in business engagement through sponsorship as opposed to other potential forms of marketing would see that some recovered and surpassed within a few short years.
It would also significantly lift the ability of sport to raise funding independent of Government grant and that can only be a positive in the long term, as well as in keeping with this function of the new Sport Ireland.
Certainly a conversation worth having…
