Vol. 447 No. 11
160 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Education the reason her Department will not recognise draughts as a sport in view of the fact that it is internationally recognised as a sport and Irish competitors playing abroad are disadvantaged since they receive no Government financial assistance. [1097/95]
This matter was examined extensively by Cospóir, the National Sports Council. Following this the Council recommended that draughts should not be recognised because it did not satisfy Cospóir's guidelines for recognising national governing bodies of sport, or qualify under the term "sport" as defined in the European Sports Charter, both of which stipulate the need for an acceptable level of physical skill and effort before an activity can be recognised as sport or physical recreation.
