The budget which Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath will deliver today will be very different from what might have been imagined when we went to the polls to elect a government in February.
Covid-19 has thrown every element of our society and economy up in the air and we still cannot tell how or where the pieces will land.
We do know that today’s numbers will focus heavily on a massive increase in health spending, a massive decrease in overall economic activity and a serious need to keep businesses and the employment they create alive.
Budgets are about looking at the money coming in and determining a priority for the money going out. Governments are no different in that sense from every household and every business.
The cost of borrowing though has never been lower and Governments tends not to worry about having to find utility bills with the right name and address to secure financing.
Priorities
So where will sport sit in terms of the priorities when the headline figures are announced today and the devil in the detail emerges over the coming days?
We live in a world where you have to state your case loudly and with conviction even to have a chance. Sport has done that well in recent weeks with strong budget submissions put forward, and covered in detail on Sport for Business, by the Federation of Irish Sport, Ireland Active and Horse Racing Ireland.
Each has laid out in clear terms the basis on which they are deserving of special recognition, and how certain very specific line items in the budget will help wider society through employment, health and more.
We carried a special interview at the end of last month with Mary O’Connor of the Federation of Irish Sport, Hamish Adams from Athletics Ireland and Graham Russell representing Local Sports Partnerships.
The principal ask was for a restating of Government commitment to increased funding each year to 2027. “Sport has proven that we used the increased funding of the last two years well,” said O’Connor. “It will also have a positive impact in the short term on people’s wellbeing and on the overall health of the nation at a time when that has never been so important.
Tackling Obesity
There is also a call for a portion of the ‘Sugar Tax’ income to be set aside for physical activity programmes targeting obesity and for a similar proportion of the increased betting duty enacted this year to be given over to sporting bodies for purposes of education.
Ireland Active represents the fitness and leisure sector and we also carried an interview with CEO Conn McCluskey and Clodagh Kilmurray from Swan Leisure.
Its 10-point pre-Budget 2021 submission features a proposal to expand the existing ‘Stay and Spend Scheme’ – which came into effect on October 1st – to include exercise activities in commercial sports facilities.
They are also calling on Government to introduce an Employee Exercise Scheme, which is modelled on the hugely successful Cycle to Work and Travel TaxSaver schemes.
Other measures Ireland Active is calling on Government for include a commercial rent relief scheme, the reduction of the sports facilities VAT rate to 5% for 2021, and a €5m swimming pool resilience fund for 2021, to take account of the ongoing challenges and associated costs for pools remaining open during the pandemic.
Brexit
Horse Racing Ireland is wrestling with the twin threats of Covid-19 and Brexit.
“The Government has spoken about protecting businesses from the impact of Covid and Brexit and we’re right in the middle of both of those,” CEO Brian Kavanagh said at the weekend.
Last year’s budget maintained the level of funding to the sport at €67.2 million but in the five-year strategic plan published in March, the desired number by 2024 would be €98 million.
Racing, together with Greyhound Racing comes under the remit of Agriculture rather than Sport and so is in a different Department with different ways of persuading the Department of Finance.
We know what sport is looking for, we know the very solid reasons why giving it would be good and not doing so would be extremely damaging.
The problem is that we are part if a very complex financial puzzle which needs to be pieced together. Our asks in the greater scheme of things are relatively small and the impact relatively high profile and widespread. Let us hope that those two elements get the right result.
