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Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I want to welcome you to today's announcement of the Irish Sports Council Investment Plans for 2013. These Grants have been the subject of detailed consideration by the Executive and Council over the last two meetings in February and March and approved by them.
Today's package of grants amounts to more than €32 million. This is a substantial amount of money and for many of the recipients a very significant proportion of their income. The money is used effectively and efficiently by the sports organisations and they deliver important services not alone to participants but also to the wider community.
Sport in Ireland is booming both in terms of increasing participation rates and in improving standards and achievements within the high performance sport programme. 2012 was a wonderful year for Irish sport and its success has continued into 2013. The funding announced today is important in keeping sport in good health. Through the excellent work of NGBs and LSPs, it has a real impact in every sport and in every community. Individual and collective team performances have lifted our hearts on many foreign fields and in many sporting disciplines.
At home, once again Croke Park provided All-Ireland Finals of a momentous character and excitement.
We all understand the current fiscal difficulties faced by Government. In that respect the Council is very appreciative of the efforts of Ministers Varadkar and Ring and the Department in securing a budget of €43.15 million for the Council in 2013 and in reducing the overall planned cut to 2.9%. Their support does help enormously and is sincerely acknowledged and more importantly to the taxpayer who provides this largesse from Exchequer funds.
I would specifically wish to thank our Taoiseach and Minister for their attendance and support for many Irish Sports Council events and their generosity in making "Farmleigh" available for many joyful celebrations last year.
This year we decided to announce all the spending plans at one event and again to continue full transparency in our expenditure. This way everyone can see the overall direction of the Council's work. Something that becomes more apparent in this format is the extent of investment in participation in sport. NGBs and LSPs receive their core allocations to help provide the best possible opportunities to the community to participate in sport at a level suitable to their talent and participation commitment. 75% of all grant allocations to NGB's have now been sanctioned and paid.
The Council receives considerable attention for its work and support for high performance sport and in other areas such as anti-doping. We understand why that is the case and appreciate the media and general interest in that side of our work. I would wish also to thank all the media for their extensive coverage of sport and the endeavours of all our sporting athletes.
There is another dimension to our work which is equally important.
The Council has always tried to ensure that the bulk of investment is in supporting and developing the building of the organisational infrastructure of sport. This creates the opportunities to take part in sport for everyone at different levels of their ability. The level of investment is roughly at a 3 to 1 ratio over high performance sport which has been consistent over the past few years. Last year the Government complemented this process by a new round of capital grants.
Clearly the National Governing Bodies of sport remain central to the Council and the pursuit of its aims and statutory functions. The Council enjoys excellent working relations with the NGBs and appreciates the work they do in providing the great variety of sport that is available in Ireland today. In particular I would like to acknowledge our positive working relationship with the OCI and Paralympic organisations which was so vital in preparing for London 2012. It is also worth noting the amount of their own resources that they invest in achieving the agreed strategic aims of sport in Ireland. As Chairman of the Council, I intend continuing our commitment towards working with NGB's and co-operating in addressing their concerns.
Some sports have done very well in generating new streams of income so that they are less reliant on state support. That is a process we encourage and support. In fact the "Sustainable Financing of Sport" was the topic of recent conference on sport hosted by Ireland as part of the EU Presidency.
However, there will always be an important role for state funding in ensuring shared gaols and national aspirations are encouraged and achieved.
The Local Sports Partnerships are expected to generate at least 50% of their income from other sources and they have been successful in that regard. In a short space of time they have become an essential element of the infrastructure of Irish sport and augment the work of the NGBs and other agencies active in sport. They continue to do an excellent job especially as they are tasked with working with the communities that face both social and physical barriers to participating in sport.
Last year was a remarkable year for Irish high performance sport. That said we have been busy since the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games closed. The Institute of Sport was involved in the vital Transition Programme amongst many others while the NGBs have already begun the planning for the Rio Olympics and beyond. The High Performance Unit of the Council has been very occupied with the Carding review and London Debriefs which seek to build on what has been achieved in recent years. I would like to thank also our President, Michael D. Higgins, who has made the Aras , a "must visit destination" for our national sportspersons.
As I said last week the Council takes the recommendations of the successive reviews very seriously and believes that complete implementation of the recommendations leads to improvement and eventual success. As can be seen by today's announcement the process of implementing the recommendations contained in the two Reports has already commenced and is underpinned by this investment plan for 2013.
As of December 2012 Coaching Ireland, based at UL, is a fully integrated part of the Council. That is a natural and very welcome development which will benefit the whole community of Irish sport. I want to take this opportunity to welcome our colleagues from Coaching Ireland into the Council.
I wish also to thank all the Chief Executives of the NGB's for their continued and positive engagement with us and their positive response to our two-way supportive process. Dialogue, understanding and the frank exchange of views are helpful to us all in promoting the interests of sport.
Finally I want to thank my colleagues on the Board of the Irish Sports Council for their ongoing excellence in the discharge of their duties. They put in a lot of time, energy and expertise both at Council and sub-committee level and for that I thank them.
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