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Statement by Kieran Mulvey, Chairman, Irish Sports Council at the Irish Times/ Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year Awards 2010 Friday 17th December 2010, Shelbourne Hotel
It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the Irish Sports Council to continue our association and support for these awards. In a country beset by economic woes - your endeavours, your successes and the truly extraordinary breadth of your collective achievements - brings a beacon of hope and inspiration to the population of Ireland. This year we have seen remarkable performances at the highest levels of international competition. We collectively and unashamedly bask and delight in your collective national and international success. The Council is proud to have a direct relationship with many of the winners or with their sports.
Through our High Performance Unit we hope to continue to deliver finalists at European, World, Olympic and Paralympic level. We value and depend upon having a good, positive working relationship with our National Governing Bodies in all sports and I with my colleagues hope to build on these in 2011.
Today, I wish to thank the Minister, Mary Hanafin, for her successful "pugilistic" endeavours at Cabinet in protecting the budget for the Irish Sports Council and minimising the cuts in our grants for 2011.
The recent additional Sports Capital Grant from the Department of Sport of €600,000 to us to fund and equip the Institute of Sport at Abbotstown is very significant. The Institute will create a science and medical unit which will supply our athletes with valuable access to multi-disciplinary support and expertise.
I wish to announce today that the Council has decided that there will be no cut in the funding for the International Carding System and in our grant programme for our elite athletes in 2011. This is our investment in you for 2011 and 2012.
I congratulate you all on all of your respective successes both at home and abroad - may you bring as much enjoyment to our lives in 2011.
Kieran Mulvey
Chairman
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