Sporting sector given €70 million funding boost

A funding package of up to €70 million has been approved by the Government to support the sport sector.

The announcement of the support package was made by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, and the Minister with responsibility for tourism and sport, Brendan Griffin (pictured above).

This funding package will support the sport sector through:

*Funding of up to €40m for the three main field sports organisations – the FAI, the GAA and the IRFU;

*A Resilience Fund of up to €10m to support the national governing bodies of sport;

*A Sports Club Resilience Fund of up to €15m to support clubs;

*A Sports Restart and Renewal Fund of up to €5m.

Minister Ross said: “The sport sector has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and many sporting bodies and clubs are experiencing significant financial challenges. We have had extensive contact with the sector and it is clear that the challenge is enormous and is being felt at every level. While the scale of this package may seem extraordinarily large, it merely reflects the enormity of the challenges being faced by our sporting bodies.

"Sporting organisations and clubs are hugely important for the social fabric of every community in the country and we want to ensure that the sector recovers as strongly as possible from the current crisis."

Minister Ross said the Roadmap accelerations and funding package "will ensure the survival of our vibrant sport sector, particularly the network of clubs throughout the country".

"My officials will now engage with Sport Ireland to design new grant schemes, which will be administered by Sport Ireland,” he added.

Minister Griffin said: “I am delighted that the Government saw fit to respond to the many loud calls for help from our sporting bodies," adding that the loss of revenues has been "breathtaking".

"Despite all of the challenges, it is heartening to see that so many people have recognised the importance of staying active during the Covid-19 crisis. We are now seeing more adults than ever actively participating in sport, with huge numbers having taken up cycling, running and recreational walking," said Minister Griffin.

"There is a huge opportunity now to secure a lasting improvement in the health and wellbeing of our nation by engaging with children and adults who have become more active during the crisis and putting in place programmes to help them go from casual sporting activity into lifelong participation. The Sports Restart and Renewal Fund will assist sporting bodies and local sports partnerships to maximise this opportunity.”

The Federation of Irish Sport has welcomed the Resilience Fund for sport and other measures.

"This financial assistance will go a long way in helping sports organisations who are facing particular financial difficulty to get back to business and to adapt to the new reality as restrictions lift," said a Federation of Irish Sport statement.

"We welcome the government’s acknowledgement of our call for support, and their commitment to investing in sport at local and national level to help Irish sport through this unprecedented emergency and back on to the road to recovery. The Federation will continue to work with its members and Sport Ireland to maximise levels of physical activity and participation in sport in Ireland."

The Federation of Irish Sport is the representative organisation for the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in Ireland.