13 Márta 2014, 16:02
A newly incorporated Spórt Éireann I Sport Ireland should be able to explore alternative forms of funding, such as tax revenues from betting, for both high-profile national and grassroots level sport.
13 March 2014
An Oireachtas Committee is also proposing that the advisory role of the new body be expanded to allow it consider use of sports facilities countrywide, as well as those at Abbotstown and Santry (Morton Stadium) and, separately, its oversight powers extend to non-traditional “extreme sports?, bearing in mind the lack of regulation in the area of adventure activities.
The recommendations form part of the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Sport Ireland Bill by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, whose remit covers the activities of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
The Bill proposes that a new agency, to be called Spórt Éireann I Sport Ireland, will replace the National Sports Campus and the Irish Sports Council.
Other recommendations include that:
- Staffing requirements be considered to assess expanded remit for Spórt Éireann I Sport Ireland which includes the provision of education and information programmes;
- Cross-border synergies with the new body’s counterpart in Northern Ireland, Sport NI, be explored;
- The new body have a capacity to conduct independent research, and
- Greater specificity be provided for in the legislation relating to the use of facilities owned by fully or partly publicly-funded institutions, other than sporting clubs.
Chairman of the Committee John O’Mahony TD says: “The Sport Ireland Bill 2014 proposes that a new agency, to be called Sport Ireland, will replace the National Sports Campus and the Irish Sports Council. As legislators with responsibility for this area, it was important that we engaged with key stakeholders on the relative merits the legislation, and we hosted detailed discussion in public with representatives of both agencies on 19 February 2014. These discussions flowed into what the Committee believes is a practical, commonsense report, which we hope will assist in the shaping of each section of the legislation in this significant development in Irish sport.”
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Committee on Transport and Communications
Deputies: John O’Mahony (Chair), Paudie Coffey (Vice-Chair), Michael Colreavy, Timmy Dooley, Dessie Ellis, Tom Fleming, Brendan Griffin, Noel Harrington, Seán Kenny, Éamonn Maloney, Helen McEntee, Michael Moynihan, Patrick O’Donovan, Ann Phelan and Mick Wallace
Senators: Sean D. Barrett, Terry Brennan, Éamonn Coghlan, Paschal Mooney, Ned O’Sullivan and John Whelan