Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 November 2021
121. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her views on the importance of investment in sport as set out in the national sports policy; if she will continue to increase investment in sport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55217/21]
View answerThe Government's objectives as set out in the National Sports Policy 2018-2027 are to achieve a sustained increase in participation levels across all sectors of society, to support our athletes to reach their potential in international competition and to support the development of the sport sector, in terms of facilities and organisational capacity.
We fully recognise that these objectives will not be achieved without continued investment across the sporting sector. Our ambition is to double the State's investment in sport, from €112 million in 2018 to €220 million in 2027.
In Budget 2022, we announced over €181 million for sport next year, an increase of almost €11 million compared to the 2021 Revised Estimate. Compared to 2018, we will have achieved an increase of almost €70m.
Current expenditure funding for Sport Ireland for 2022 will be €96 million, an increase of over €4m from 2021 and up by €44 million compared to 2018. This funding will enable Sport Ireland to continue to support the sector as it recovers from the challenges of Covid. It will also allow continued support for high performance sport, participation programmes and other funding programmes.
We are continuing our investment in sport capital programmes. At least €34.5 million has been provided for the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme in 2022, which will cover all existing allocations under older rounds of the Programme plus significant new allocations for the 2020 Capital applications. At least €14.6 million is available for the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund next year.
