Minister Shane Ross made his first keynote address to the sporting community yesterday at the Federation of Irish Sport Annual Conference in Croke Park.
As a first outing into what is always a very nuanced line of broad communication we did not expect fireworks or radical policy shifts.
Ross alluded himself to the nervousness among his key officials at what he might say off the cuff but on this occasion at least he was happy to stick to the script stating the Government’s continued commitment to sport in its many forms through society.
There were hints though, for those listening carefully, that the balance between elite high performance on one side and participation on the other would be shifting in the direction of the latter.
That will be a tough message for athletes preparing for the Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as at levels below but the decrease in participation revealed in the most recent Irish Sports Monitor is something of a warning light at a time when national policy on sport is coming into a very sharp focus.
Read about the launch of the National Physical Activity Plan earlier this year…
Post Olympic cycle there will be a slow down in the investment sought to maintain elite competitive edges in a number of sports. That is not ideal and will be resisted by many in the NGB world but the gains to be won in getting the wider population moving faster towards fitness are clearly in the minds of the Department.
To have both would be ideal but politics is about the art of efficient distribution of resources and public health and fitness is likely to be the winner.
Minister Ross’s two immediate predecessors went onto Health and Public Expenditure and Reform, two key Departments with major influence and major agendas.
The preventative benefit of a fitter, more active population are obvious to those who look but sport has sometimes struggled to cross over into the consciousness of other areas of Government.
That is no longer the case and Ross announced that a new working group to implement the National Physical Activity Plan would be high on his agenda. It would be co-chaired by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Health.
Read about the opening of the new High Performance Centre at the Institute of Sport…
In praising the facilities at the National Sports Campus, home to the high performance units and the Irish Institute of Sport, there was also a reference to the need for continual review, and that this would be happening again shortly with a view to whether the medium term focus of the Campus should be on performance, participation or a viable mix of both.
Shane Ross is a communicator. he chooses words carefully and balance was one he kept returning to in his speech.
Getting the balance right between programme spending and capital has been a constant debate within sport but the Sports Capital programme has been a success and is likely to continue. It will though be geared ever more towards avoiding the publication of facilities and fostering more of a multi sport approach.
Within weeks there will be an announcement of a detailed public consultation plan inviting the sports sector, stakeholders in the public and private sector and the public to consider a wide range of questions about the future of sport.
It will set the tone for the next ten years of sports policy and will create differences of opinion that will hopefully lead to a better understanding of what needs to be done.
We saw the first battle lines drawn between advocates of high performance and participation yesterday. This has a way to go before it is resolved.
