Alarm bells over money moves
The Holohan Leisure Group is currently consulting the country’s elite athletes, the National Governing Bodies for sport and the country’s Local Authorities to determine what is required nationally and regionally as it works with the Government to develop the new national sports facility strategy.
The research has revealed a number of worrying trends according to Gar Holohan, chairman of Holohan Leisure Group.
“The objective of increasing participation in sports and the challenge of unearthing and developing a new generation of Irish sports stars relies heavily on the access that people have to sports facilities and the ability of sports clubs to attract young people to utilise their facilities.
“Relocating clubs away from communities creates a barrier to participating in sport and also to volunteering for sport.”
He warned: “Clubs and local authorities in Ireland are free to sell up sports grounds to property developers and to relocate facilities without having to prove that the facilities currently in use are no longer required in that area. This practice is having a detrimental effect on sport and there is a need to re-evaluate the importance of having sports clubs and facilities in local communities,” he added.
“Where clubs and facilities are located is hugely important when it comes to promoting participation in sport. Children who have to walk miles to a facility or who have to rely on parents to transport them there may opt out of playing sport,” Mr Holohan said.
The company has organised a seminar in Naas on May 15-16 to discuss the issue.
Though most of the high profile relocations have involved GAA clubs, Holohan stressed that the issue is not solely a concern for Croke Park chiefs.
“It is all over the country and it is going to get more intense. The pressure is starting to come on. In England they have a Playing Pitch Guidance (PPG 17) law which is a playing pitch protection for open spaces. So if a developer is taking a sporting site they have to show that they are going to provide adequate facilities in the same area as part of their new development.
“It is already a crisis in some areas — we have urban areas with green space deficits. The two key issues are to protect facilities that exist and secondly to improve the quality of existing facilities. We need to develop short term overall strategies in each urban area including input from clubs and voluntary organisations, local authorities and the educational sector.”
But his work will also focus on the development of international level facilities — and the competitors who use them.
He explained: “We are looking at what people need to participate in sport and what Ireland’s existing and emerging elite athletes need to perform internationally. Our work as well as discussion among the leading authorities on this subject at the two day seminar will examine how to remove barriers in relation to the provision of facilities at national level so as to enable our elite athletes to develop and perform on the international stage and also at local level so as to increase participation in sport,” said Mr Holohan.
How well are we prepared for the Olympics? “Poorly,” he admitted. “But again the government has a 2012 Committee in place to get it right. The time frame is too short to be identifying kids for the Games. But there are a lot in their late teens now who could be in line to compete in five years time.”
Holohan hopes that movement on the National Sports Facility Strategy will come within two months: “We are going to wrap things up in July. We are meeting today with the NGBs and then with local sports partnerships to get feedback from them.”
Speakers at the conference include entrepreneur Ben Dunne who will discuss whether the private sector can solve Ireland’s obesity crisis, Ian Wilson of Faulkner Browns who will debate whether Ireland’s sports facilities measure up to Olympic Standard Design for 2012 and Andy Preece, an expert on strategic planning for sport.
He worked on the successful London 2012 Olympics bid and will present on the subject of legacy planning for major events.
Details from Holohan Leisure Group at 01 4978988 or by logging onto: www.eventznet.ie/holohan.
