Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 February 2021
245. Deputy Chris Andrews asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the reason such a high number of players of an organisation (details supplied) have been given elite athlete status and granted exemption while so many Olympic hopefuls have not received the same exemption. [5757/21]
View answerThe Government's approach for all levels of sport, including high performance sport, is set out in the Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 Plan for Living with COVID-19, published in September 2020.
The comparatively higher number of players exempted under the Resilience and Recovery Plan in the organisation to which the Deputy refers mainly reflects the team-based nature of the sport concerned in contrast to the individual nature of most Olympic/Paralympic sports.
The priority for high performance sport at all times throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has been to:
1. Protect the health and wellbeing of athletes and support personnel.
2. Ensure Irish athletes are not competitively disadvantaged in the build up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are now due to take place in the summer of 2021.
Sport Ireland, which is funded by my Department and is the statutory body with responsibility for the development of sport, including high performance sport. With the full support of Government, Sport Ireland is working with the National Governing Bodies of sport to ensure that all those who are Olympic/Paralympic bound are able to continue to train and compete. If there are athletes who feel they have been excluded, they should raise this through their respective National Governing Body.
