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Sport Ireland Allocate €904,775 To Local Partnerships And Athletes In Midlands

Thursday, 22 April 2021 11:10

Around €80,000 of that will go towards elite athletes.

Sport Ireland has allocated more than €900,000 to local partnerships and athletes in the Midlands. 

However 78% of that will go towards operational and staff costs across Laois, Offaly and Westmeath. 

Portarlinton's Olympic medal hopeful Nicole Turner has been given the top level funding of €40,000 towards her podium bid in Tokyo. 

Another swimmer with Portarlington connections Shane Ryan received "World Class" category funding of €20,000. 

The final individual from the region being supported is Tullamore boxer Grainne Walsh who was also deemed in the World Class level. 

Offaly Sports Partnership will get €45,000 of programme funding in 2021 along with €5,000 for women in sport. 

That falls to just over €29,000 in Westmeath and €5,900 to their women's initiatives. 

Programmes in Laois will have funding to the tune of €22,765. 

The O'Moore county women in sport fund will see the biggest boost to it's coffers of €11,000. 

Minister of State for Sport & the Gaeltacht Jack Chambers TD acknowledged the difficulties faced by the High Performance community in recent months: 

"Ireland has big ambitions on the international stage and the funding announced today will assist in furthering these ambitions. While the Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed in 2020, the hard work and commitment from our high performance athletes, their National Governing Bodies and their support teams has continued over the past year and we are all now greatly looking forward to the summer games and beyond. This funding will provide certainty to our organisations after this difficult period and cover costs like coach development, hosting of events and delivering strategic plans. I am also very pleased we are once again providing ring-fenced funding for the Women in Sport programmes through the Local Sports Partnerships."

Kieran Mulvey, Chairman Sport Ireland outlined the importance of providing stability to the sector in these uncertain times: 

"2020 was an extremely challenging year for the sports sector. It was faced head on by the sector and I commend the work of the funded bodies who showed resilience and agility in adapting to the many obstacles they faced throughout the year. The High Performance athletes, coaches and support staff have also showed incredible dedication and commitment to their sports in very difficult circumstances. The funding announced today will support the National Governing Bodies High Performance Programmes, the Sport Ireland Institute and other high performance facilities and direct athlete support and we look forward to cheering on these athletes again soon. On behalf of Sport Ireland, I think Minister Martin, Minister Chambers and their Department colleagues for the ongoing support."

Chief Executive of Sport Ireland John Treacy highlighted the important role of community sport: 

"Throughout 2020, the network of 29 LSPs continued to help people get active in their communities by removing barriers to physical activity. They adapted quickly to the new “virtual” landscape and rolled out a broad range of local and national initiatives targeted at all the different cohorts of people. This funding will help LSPs continue this work and ensure that everyone in our society has the opportunity to share in the enjoyment as well as the mental and physical health benefits of sport and physical activity. But now we look forward, toward an Olympic and Paralympic Games, to the reopening of sport and physical activity for the general public and a light at the end of the tunnel. There is cause for optimism as children’s sport and some outdoor activity returns and we look forward to even more opportunities to enjoy sport and physical activity in the months ahead"

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