Vol. 547 No. 1
39 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation his plans to provide greater support for smaller sports federations by way of increased grant aid and the provision of development officers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2664/02]
In July 1999 I established the Irish Sports Council, under the Irish Sports Council Act, 1999, as the statutory body with responsibility, inter alia, for the promotion and development of sport.
Last week, the Sports Council announced grants totalling 7.2 million to 56 governing bodies of sport, which allows them to carry out their core activities of administration, planning, coach education, and international training and competition.
This year's NGB grants will bring to 30 million the total investment in NGBs since the Irish Sports Council was established. It is the third successive annual increase in their grant allocations. This is targeted and strategic investment based on the needs of the sports bodies and their athletes and which is fundamentally transforming the way sport is administered in Ireland.
The council is working closely with the national governing bodies in helping them to improve their organisational capacities and structures, to enhance their administrative systems and to introduce more effective planning processes within their organisations. In the past few years a number of individual governing bodies in sports, such as gymnastics, hockey, basketball and athletics have all merged, resulting in more effective, focused organisations. The council will continue to facilitate the amalgamation and rationalisation of smaller organisations who consider that their structures and sports would benefit from such mergers.
Most parliamentary questions that we table concerning sport are now referred to the Sports Council and they are not being answered by the Minister. That is wrong because the Minister should be answerable to the Dáil for the actions of the Sports Council. We are told, however, that such questions are the responsibility of the Sports Council, not of the Minister. Today, for example, some five questions were not allowed.
Despite his announcement, is the Minister aware that a number of the small sports federations find it impossible to employ full-time administrators? Due to a lack of funding, some of the better athletes with Olympic potential cannot receive proper coaching from experts, either here or abroad. If we want to produce Olympic athletes, the Minister must provide funding for the small sporting federations to ensure they have adequate training programmes in place. In addition, they need to have proper administrative structures to provide coaching, be it here or abroad, for athletes and prospective athletes at national and international level. The Minister may not be aware of it, but the feedback I am getting is that most of the smaller sporting organisations are starved of cash.
I do not understand the Deputy's point. Every national governing body for sport believes it will bring back an Olympic gold medal. We have carried our research and have commissioned many reports on this issue. Through the Sports Council and the national governing bodies we are trying to target specific sporting areas where we have some hope of bringing home gold medals. Although it is essentially a matter for individual athletes and their sports' national governing bodies, we have assisted them with funding. In the 2000-02 period my Department has provided 8.7 million for the administration side of sport alone, which was not even heard about previously. Some 197,000 was provided in 2000 for new staff positions in six of the national governing bodies – badminton, rowing, basketball, canoeing, cycling and volleyball. If the national governing bodies come forward with relevant administrative plans the Department will consider them. In addition to the 140 million in capital funding, we have also made available 8.7 million for administration.
Coaching is, of course, very important.
The Minister's time has concluded. I will allow a brief supplementary question from Deputy Deenihan.
Will the Minister outline exactly how much of the allocation for administration will go to the Sports Council? Four or five years ago there was no sports council. Obviously, it is taking a lot of the money.
That funding is going to the national governing bodies for administration.
How much does it cost to run the Sports Council annually?
The Sports Council is a very small sector; there are just nine people involved in it.
How much is it costing?
I can find out that information for the Deputy. I do not know the cost of the salaries for the nine people who are running the council, but they are doing an excellent job. They have introduced two sports capital programmes and we are dealing with the sports campus issue. For a very small team they are doing an excellent job and I can assure the Deputy that it is not at a huge cost to the Exchequer.
