Liz McManus
Ceist:49 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if he will make a statement on the report of the Irish Sports Council high performance committee, published on 12 December 2001. [2544/02]
Written Answers. - Irish Sports Council Report.
Louis J. Belton
Ceist:51 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if the recommendations in the Irish Sports Council high performance strategy committee report that an investment of 41 million be made over a five year period to underpin the high performance strategy will be fully supported by him; the amount allocated in 2002 to initiate this strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2665/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 49 and 51 together.
I asked the Irish Sports Council to carry out an in-depth review of Ireland's preparation for and participation in the Sydney Olympics, including the supports, programmes and schemes which were put in place leading up to the games. The report of the review, including recommendations for the Athens 2004 Olympics, was published on 6 February 2001.
Accordingly, the council established a high performance committee to assist and advise the council in the development of a high performance strategy for Irish sport. A wide range of interests were represented on the committee which produced the strategy, including athletes, national governing bodies of sport, the National Coaching and Training Centre, the Olympic Council of Ireland, the Paralympic Council of Ireland, Sports Campus Ireland, my Department and Sports Council Northern Ireland. This strategy was launched on 12 December last.
The strategy states that its implementation should be led by the Irish Sports Council in partnership with other key agencies. My Department is already providing substantial funding to the council to enable it to assist sports organisations and their athletes in their development. In the past three years since its establishment on a statutory basis, the Government has increased substantially the annual budget of the Irish Sports Council. The 2002 ISC annual budget of almost 26 million represents an increase of over 50% on the 2001 figure of 19.6 million and an almost 100% increase on the 2000 figure of just over 13 million. Additionally, our elite sportspersons have access also to the services of the National Coaching and Training Centre, the international carding scheme and the greatly enhanced range and quality of sports facilities now in place with the assistance of capital funding from my Department.
The Government, in recognising the need to invest in our elite athletes if we are to succeed in a consistent basis at world level, allocated 3 million in the budget to the Irish Sports Council to commence the implementation of strategy.
In commenting on the progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Sydney review group, it is important to highlight the process and the role played by the national governing bodies of sport in the preparation of our elite athletes and teams for international competition. With the aid of financial support and advice from the Irish Sports Council, the NGBs train and employ coaches, organise training camps and prepare teams to compete in major international events, such as the Olympic Games, world championships, European championships and home internationals. The work of the other bodies, such as the NCTC, OCI and Paralympic Council, should all be seen in the context of supporting and underpinning the work of the NGBs on behalf of their athletes. This is why the Irish Sports Council when announcing its NGB grants invested 1,102,452 in the work of the National Coaching and Training Centre.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Irish Sports Council announced grants totalling 11 million to the national governing bodies of sport, which is a major investment in the work of the 67 national governing bodies. This will bring to 30 million the total investment in national governing bodies since l999. Coach education programmes in association with the national governing bodies facilitate the running of training camps for elite squads at the University of Limerick and oversee the services being provided to elite athletes through the international carding scheme. The challenging programme, which the National Coaching Training Centre has laid out in agreement with the council, will see more and more highly qualified coaches, more athletes benefiting from the expertise available at the centre and more and more squads taking advantage of the facilities now on offer at the University of Limerick.
With that important role in mind, the Sports Council has worked very closely with the NGBs to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses and the need for strategic planning, to achieve value for money and to introduce measurement criteria. As a model for the implementation of a good strategic plan, the grant allocated by the council to the Badminton Union of Ireland increased from 125,000 in 2000 to 222,000 in 2002.
Funding allocations under the sports capital grants programme have increased from 7.6 million in 1998 to 56 million in 2001, an increase of over 600% in this period. Under this programme I have received in excess of 1,300 applications, many from the national governing bodies, and these are currently being evaluated against the programme's assessment criteria, which are outlined in the guidelines terms and conditions of the programme. As soon as the assessment of the projects has been completed, I will be in a position to finalise the overall budget for this year's allocation. Many of those grant applications will assist high performance sport.
A grant of 6.09 million was also allocated to Morton Stadium, our indoor national athletics stadium. Provision to enable capital payments for Campus and Stadium Ireland in 2002 is 39,886 million, consisting of 37,347 million capital and 2,539 million current, in order to complete the aqua and leisure centre, which is required for the Special Olympics World Games 2003. This is in addition to the 40.63 million provided in 2001.
Again, under the NGB grants, the Special Olympics Ireland grant increased from 176,285 in 2000 to 226,403 in 2002. In respect of Special Olympics World Games 2003, an amount of 19,046,071 is being allocated towards the development of Croke Park for hosting the games. Of the total amount of 19,046,071, half of this amount was paid in 2001 and the rest will be paid in 2002. A once-off allocation of 761,843 was given to Kill Equestrian Centre for the development of sporting facilities to be used during the Special Olympics.
The national 50 meter swimming pool at the University of Limerick is due to open officially in the next few months. The total Government allocation for the pool is 7.55 million. A yearly grant of 250,138 for the operational and running costs of the 50 meter pool has been agreed with the Irish Sports Council.
The governing bodies of Olympic sports have already commenced the development of performance plans for their sports and a liaison group has been established between the Sports Council and the OCI to help maintain liaison and co-operation between them and, very importantly, to drive and monitor the implementation of the Sydney review recommendations.
I am not aware of any study that compares the range of coaching, training and management facilities available here and the various other supports which exist for our elite sports persons to those in other EU countries. I am satisfied that the preparations for future Olympic success are well under way and that satisfactory co-operation is being achieved thus far in the process from all concerned.