Sport Ireland announces €40 million investment in sports sector
- €13.8 million for core activity of 59 National Governing Bodies
- €9.5 million to support work of 29 Local Sports Partnerships
- €8,500,000 to support High Performance programmes
- €2.68 million in International Carding scheme
Sport Ireland today announced an investment of €40 million to National Governing Bodies for Sport (NGBs), High Performance athlete support and to the network of Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) for 2021.
Today’s announcement follows a year in which the sector has been significantly impacted by Covid-19 restrictions in place since March 2020.
The funding of €13.8 million for NGBs is maintained from 2020. This funding, in addition to the recently allocated Covid-19 Grant Scheme, will provide stability and certainty to organisations throughout 2021. In line with previous years, a portion of the Core funding budget (‘Special Projects & Programmes’) will be ring fenced to assist with strategically important NGB related events and projects.
Welcoming today’s announcement, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin acknowledged the importance of sport and physical activity; “The past year has shown us yet again the important role that sport and physical activity plays in our lives and the vital contribution it makes to our physical and mental wellbeing. I am delighted to announce today’s funding to the sport sector to further assist the work of National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships to encourage people to be more active and to support their ongoing development. In Budget 2021, the Government made a commitment to support the sector and we are engaging closely with the sector to ensure their needs are met and that sport will emerge from the Covid-19 crisis in a strong position.”
High Performance Programme funding will also be maintained for 2021 at €8,500,000. 2021 is anticipated to be an expensive year for high performance programmes as there remains a high level of uncertainty around competition and training camp plans due to Covid-19. Sport Ireland will provide further support in 2021 to address the immediate and confirmed costs to high performance programmes in respect of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Minister of State for Sport & the Gaeltacht Jack Chambers TD acknowledged the difficulties faced by the High Performance community in recent months, “Ireland has big ambitions on the international stage and the funding announced today will assist in furthering these ambitions. While the Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed in 2020, the hard work and commitment from our high performance athletes, their National Governing Bodies and their support teams has continued over the past year and we are all now greatly looking forward to the summer games and b