Sports Council set to launch new research programme

THE Irish Sports Council aims to increase participation in sport over the next three years particularly amongst primary school children.

The council's three-year strategic plan Sport for Life was launched in Croke Park yesterday by Minister John O'Donoghue, who described it as an exciting follow-up to the ISC's first strategy statement A New Era for Irish Sport. That had introduced a new funding dimension to sport and the Local Sports Partnerships which were set up as a result.

Central to the success of this new strategic plan will be a 300,000 research project by the ESRI which will also influence long-term planning.