Sport Ireland 2024 in review

It was a memorable year for Sport Ireland, reflected in 112 medals won, record funding announcements, the hosting of international conferences and events, and continuing innovative, strategic and consistent support to the wider sport sector.  

Underpinning the entire operation are Organisational Development and Change (OD&C), Communications, HR, IT, and the Finance department.  

Sport Ireland's OD&C unit managed and facilitated seven peer-to-peer networking sessions and masterclasses in 2024. It also delivered the M-Power Mentoring Programme, with 15 people graduating from the ASPIRE Graduate Employment Programme, and 24 from the ACCELERATE Management Development Programme. 

The Governance and Strategy team also provide vital support functions and in November delivered the Annual Governance Conference, which captures Sport Ireland’s commitment to supporting, improving and enhancing the governance capabilities of our funded bodies. 

As the statutory authority that oversees and funds the development of sport and physical activity, Sport Ireland’s highlights in 2024 include … 

• The Ethics unit developed a bespoke EDI and anti-racism workshop with the Irish Centre for Diversity, while Dormant Accounts Funding provided support for recognised bodies to deliver EDI training for their staff and/or volunteers.   
   
• The ESF+ Sport4Empowerment programme began. It aims to enhance the wellbeing, education and economic prospects of people at risk of social exclusion. 
   
• Sport Ireland published an update to its Disability Policy, while the launch of Safeguarding Digital Certificates software has created an environmentally-friendly system for the sector. 
   
• Sport Ireland published the 2023 Anti-Doping report, with the highest-ever number of tests and samples since the programme was established in 1999. Paperless sample collection, with tablets replacing paper forms, was fully rolled out along with the introduction of Dried Blood Spot testing. 
   
• There were 41 Anti-Doping Education sessions completed involving 1,469 high performance and youth athletes, university students, coaches and support personnel, and all inter-county GAA medical personnel. Seven people completed the International Clean Sport Educator Programme, which will expand the education programme further in 2025. 
   
• The Campus hosted four international events: Last September the 2024 Northern European Championships became the first podium-level international gymnastics event to be hosted in Ireland. In August the Campus hosted the U20 Women’s European Volleyball Championship Finals at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena. In the Eurohockey Championship Qualifier the senior men’s national hockey team finished third among eight competing nations. The third hosting of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup attracted up to 5,000 spectators.  
   
• Sport Ireland Campus also hosted several high-performance Olympians and Paralympians for their pre-games camp.   
   
• The ISO 9001 Certification demonstrates the Campus team’s dedication to maintaining high operational and management standards. The International Green Flag Award celebrates the commitment to meeting environmental and horticultural standards, while the prestigious Silver Level Smarter Travel Mark acknowledges the sustainable travel practices implemented for staff and visitors. 
   
• Campus Development: Following the ongoing work of the Campus Development Unit the National Velodrome and Badminton Centre received Ministerial approval to proceed to tender while the National Cricket Centre received approval to proceed to planning.   
   
• Over 22,000 coaches were certified across 35 sports in 2024, along with developing Annual Coaching Plans with 57 National Governing Bodies (NGBs). Thirty-two new Coach Developers were certified by Quality and Qualifications Ireland as part of the Certificate in Sports Coach Development, and 51 more are being trained across 15 NGBs.  
   
• This year the Coaching Unit delivered regional coaching conferences to 247 people as part of the European Week of Sport, as well as making a keynote address at the iCoachKids international conference in Lithuania, and in September presented at the Sport for Business Children and Sport conference. 
   
• A feasibility study involving 700 officials was conducted with Sport Northern Ireland on the training and support of Technical Officials. The Coaching Unit also contributed to the Respect Technical Officials Working Group. 
   
• A record €25million was invested in high performance sport with a total of €89m for the Paris cycle (2021-2024). 
   
• The 2024 Paris Olympic Games was Ireland’s most successful ever Games, with seven medals won, four of which were gold, across four sports. A record 112 major medals were won in 2024 from sports that received High Performance Funding. 
   
• The High Performance Unit completed the Paris Cycle System Review in 2024, providing an independently validated reflection of the system. 
   
• 5,552 direct service days were provided to High Performance Sports by the team of expert sport scientists and medical professionals of the Sport Ireland Institute.  
    
• 487 athletes attended the High-Performance Centre and/or received performance support services from the Institute team in 2024.  A further 24 international athletes trained with Irish athletes at the High-Performance Centre.  
   
• Extensive support was provided to Team Ireland at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games as the Official Performance Support Delivery Partner. Thirty-eight Institute Team members attended the Paris Games or pre-Games training camps with Team Ireland. 
   
• The Sport Ireland Institute Environmental Chamber was officially opened by Minister Thomas Byrne, while in March the Sport Ireland Institute Statement of Intent 2024 – 2032 was adopted by the Sport Ireland Board.  
   
• Throughout 2024 the NGB Unit distributed in excess of €40m through various investment programmes such as Core, Women in Sport and the Dormant Accounts Fund. 
   
• Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs): The release of the Annual Report 2023 revealed 492,847 people participated in 2,093 locally-delivered participation initiatives. 
   
• Over 200,000 people participated in LSP initiatives focusing specifically on socio-economically disadvantaged areas, with over 17,000 people taking part in initiatives designed specifically for people with a disability.  
   
• In 2024, over €20m worth of funding was distributed to LSPs across: Core, Women in Sport, Dormant Accounts, Participation Nation, Healthy Ireland, ESF+ and other funding streams.  
   
• Outdoors: HER Outdoors Week grew again in 2024 with over 500 events taking place across Ireland with over 15,000 participants taking part in LSP and NGB events.  
   
• Women in Sport (WIS): The Her Moves Campaign delivered 125 programmes to over 10,000 teenage girls via NGBs and LSPs. A creative video launched on International Day of the Girl, titled ‘It’s Complicated’, highlighted some of the key challenges teenage girls are facing. It led to 235,000 unique visitors to the Her Moves hub with more than 40 million video views. 
   
• The updated and relaunched information Hub now includes resources such as ‘Period Positive Posters’ educating girls, and the adults around them, on the menstrual cycle and sport, with a QR code within the poster. 
   
• Sport Ireland has continued to publish the latest snapshot of female representation on the boards of funded NGBs, LSPs and other sporting funded bodies. For the first time, every LSP has now achieved the target of 40% representation on their boards. Of the 71 NGBs/funded bodies, 65 (including the GAA, FAI and IRFU) are now at 40% or more, while all NGBs are actively in the process of recruitment to fulfil their gender balance commitment.    
   
• Women in Sport Week took place again from the 4-10th of March, celebrating women and girls in sport across all areas. Sport Ireland hosted a webinar on the topic of ‘The Female Athlete and Pregnancy’ for the sector, and a WIS ‘Inspire Inclusion’ Conference. While a study trip to Scotland was facilitated with WIS leads from across the LSP and NGB network for WIS networking and information sharing.  
   
• Sport Ireland released a report mapping the contribution of Irish National Sports Policy to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and in total the NSP aligns closely with 10 of the SDGs. 
   
• The Irish Sport Monitor provides an ongoing measurement of sports participation in Ireland. The Research and Innovation unit authored a number of articles from the 2023 insights which were carried in national press. In June 2024, an article on male sports participation was published by the Irish Times during Men’s Health Week. Ahead of the national ploughing championships, the Irish Farmers Journal carried an article on sport and physical activity amongst farmers. An article published by the Irish Independent as part of International Inclusion Day focused on embracing ethnic diversity in Irish sport, and in December the Irish Examiner published an article on international persons with a disability day. 
   
• Over 360 people attended the Sport Innovation and Technology Summit, hosted with new enterprise partners including Inter Trade Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Skillnet Innovation Exchange, Sports Tech Ireland and a range of Irish sports tech and innovation enterprises.