SOCCER ISC announce €2 million grant to the F.A.I.

Investment supports the Technical Development Plan of the F.A.I. with an emphasis on sports participation initiatives for young people

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O'Donoghue T.D., announced an allocation of €2 million from the Irish Sports Council to the F.A.I. for 2005 aimed at supporting their Technical Development Plan, with a particular emphasis on participation in soccer at underage level.

This brings to €8.33 million the total allocated to the F.A.I. by the Irish Sports Council since the introduction in 2001 of the special budget measure for the encouragement of greater underage participation in the three major field sports. The investment supports the Council's strategic objectives of increasing opportunities to participate in sport, particularly for school aged children.

Minister O'Donoghue made the announcement at a visit to Cabra where the 6th class pupils from Gaelscoil na Raithe  put on a demonstration of the Buntْs soccer programme. He commented “The Special Budget Measure introduced in 2001 was designed to support programmes such as Buntus. It has improved the quality of sport being delivered to a greater number of young people in the correct environment”. 

The FAI’s Technical Development Plan was developed as a result of a wide scale consultation process and is being rolled out under the guidance of Technical Director Packie Bonner. The Irish Sports Council strongly endorses the Plan which draws all aspects of the Association’s work together and sets out how the Association will meet the challenge of delivering quality sports programmes to all its potential participants. 

The net cost to the FAI of operating its Technical Development Plan programmes this year is approximately €7.9m.  Therefore, the €2m provided by the ISC accounts for almost one third of the cost to the FAI.  The F.A.I. provided the Council with detailed targets for each of the component programmes that constitute the Plan.
 
Mr Pat O'Neill, Chairperson of the Irish Sports Council said, “The combination of the implementation of the Technical Plan and the Genesis Report will result in a secure and healthy future for football in Ireland. The progress being made by the FAI in every aspect of its work is very welcome and the benefits will be appreciated by participants around the country”.

The Chief Executive of the F.A.I., Mr John Delaney, said; “We greatly appreciate this contribution towards the cost of the Technical Plan. I want to pay tribute to everyone within the game who work so hard to ensure the Technical Plan is a success. The Government is fully supportive of what we are trying to achieve in every aspect of the Association’s work. In addition to Sports Council funding we receive  support from Minister O’Donoghue for a new National Stadium, the provision of funding for clubs around the country through the Sports Capital Programme, which all together will provide a foundation for a new and better future for football in Ireland”. 

Irish Sports Council Chief executive Mr John Treacy said:  “The Council has invested a lot in the FAI because we recognise that a strong and effective FAI brings enormous value to sport in Ireland. The Technical Development Plan is an excellent model for the development football and we are happy to support it in every way available to us”.

The Technical Development Plan was launched in 2004 and has outlined a number of key areas in which football will prosper.  In summary these include Grassroots, FAI Education and Player Development and the Development of Women’s Football.  The Council funded each of these key areas in 2004 and much has been achieved particularly at schools level with Buntْs and the summer schools programmes.  Additionally, significant work has been done in relation to referee education and the underage representative sides. 

The main areas to be funded under Grassroots Football are:

- To target 350 primary and special needs schools with the Buntْs soccer programme in 16 LSP areas
- To deliver 17 FAI Kick Start 1 Coach Education programmes in third level Teacher Training Colleges
- To develop a football infrastructure for players from disability sports
- To run 200 Summer Soccer Schools countrywide targeting 18,000 children
- To implement the Futsal Inner City Programme in 40 disadvantaged areas in Dublin, Limerick & Cork
- To appoint a Club/League Development Co-ordinator to assist and support improvements in the administration structures in clubs/leagues.

In relation to FAI Education, it is proposed to fund a range of projects including:

- To run 25 Referee Beginners courses and to have 300 new referees recruited
- To put in place a structure to attract, train and retain volunteers to the game 
- To work closely with NCTC to increase the quality and quantity of coaches

With regard to Player Development the key programmes are:

- To operate a full programme of fixtures for the U21 National League
- To implement 15 soccer Goalkeeper schools nationally
- To run 10 introductory Goalkeeper coach education courses nationally
- To run in association with FءS a training programme for talented players between 16 and 18 in four venues nationally
- To field representative teams at U15-21 for males and U17 to Senior level for females
- To establish a technical analysis development programme to underpin the Technical Development Plan
- To develop a pathway programme for emerging talent from 11 – 17 year old players

Issued on behalf of the Irish Sports Council by O'Herlihy Communications

Further information:

Michael O'Keeffe  O'Herlihy Communications   01 - 6602744

Sinéad McElroy  Irish Sports Council    01 - 8608804

Pat Costello   Football Association of Ireland  01 - 7037512