Eamon Ryan
Question:71 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the funding that has been provided in the Estimates to develop sport among young persons and particularly in schools. [31448/04]
View answerWednesday, 1 December 2004
Questions (53, 54)
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:157 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the extent to which he expects to assist in the promotion of sports in all schools and colleges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31647/04]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 71 and 157 together.
The Irish Sports Council is the statutory body with responsibility for the development of sport, including initiatives to promote sport among young people. The allocation for the Irish Sports Council in the 2005 Estimates is about €34.5 million which is some €3.5 million up on 2004. I am not yet in a position to give a precise indication of the level of funding for sport for young people in 2005 as the council's internal budget process for 2005 is not yet complete. I would expect, however, that expenditure patterns established in 2004 and earlier years will continue in 2005 and, in addition, will provide for the recently announced Government initiatives in support of hurling and the GAA in Dublin.
There are currently 16 local sports partnerships, LSPs, in operation around the country. One of the central aims of the local sports partnerships is to create greater opportunities for participation by all in sport and to ensure that resources are co-ordinated and used to their best effect at a local level. In 2004, €2.3 million was allocated to the LSPs. Under this allocation, 12 projects nationwide received funding from the LSPs to the tune of €114,432 under the Challenge programme for mainly youth sports. Two thirds of discretionary LSP resources, including sports co-ordinator time, are allocated to youth sport projects.
The Buntús programme is also being rolled out by the Sports Council through the local sports partnership network to primary schools. The programme aims to support the primary PE curriculum by providing equipment, resource cards and training to teachers and allows teachers and introductory level coaches introduce sport to children in a safe and fun way. Again in 2004, an additional €200,000 was allocated to this programme.
The sport for young people grant scheme is distributed through the vocational education committees to promote sporting opportunities for young people, particularly those in areas of social and economic disadvantage. This grant scheme is available to the vocational education committees which do not currently have local sports partnerships in their areas and in 2004, €450,000 was allocated for this purpose.
Sports Council allocations to GAA, IRFU and FAI last year came to almost €7 million. Most of this funding is targeted at young people. As I mentioned, a further €2.5 million will be allocated next year, €1 million for the development of GAA in Dublin and €1.5 million for the development of hurling and camogie nationwide.
The code of ethics and good practice for children's sport was launched in 2000 by the Irish Sports Council and provides guidelines to sports organisations in promoting good practice in children's sport. The core message in the code is that sport must be safe, must be fun and no matter what sport young people are involved in it should take place in a spirit of fair play.
The European Year of Education through Sport 2004, EYES 2004, is an important European Commission initiative in the area of education and sport, which I launched along with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, in Croke Park in January this year. As part of our national programme in this regard, this initiative has been used to promote the importance of sport within the education system, particularly in promoting social inclusion.
The national lottery-funded sports capital programme, which is administered by my Department, allocates funding for sporting and recreational facilities and equipment. While responsibility for the provision of facilities in national and secondary schools rests with the Department of Education and Science, applications from schools and colleges may be considered under the programme in certain circumstances.
The programme for Government includes a commitment to putting in place a long-term strategic plan to ensure the development of local sports facilities throughout the country. As part of that plan, an inter-agency steering group will be set up to oversee the implementation of this long-term strategy. One of the issues likely to be considered by this group will be potential for greater co-operation between the Departments in the administration of programmes aimed at meeting the sporting and recreational needs of communities and maximising the use of existing sports facilities by local communities and, in particular, those located in schools.