€5.8m government funding boost for Irish football
BOOST: Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Irish football receives €1.2m more in government funding than rugby and GAA combined, figures released by Sport Ireland have shown.
For 2022 the FAI will receive €5.8m in ‘Field Sport Investment’ — €3.6 more than the IRFU (€2.2m) and €3.2m more than the GAA (€2.4m).
The disparity in payments is part of the Government’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the FAI — agreed to keep the association afloat from 2020 to 2023.
The payments, which come under “funding for football development programmes”, will continue until the MOU ends at the end of next year— the association recently reported a surplus of €6.7m, however its debt has increased to €63.5m.
Minister of Sport Jack Chambers told the that the MOU payments are subject to an ongoing review, as the Government works out by next year on whether that funding should be extended into 2024.
“Obviously they have to continue to fulfil their ongoing commitments around the MOU and there is a strong impetus on reform — and that still has to progress,” said the Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht.
“I think they’ve made great progress around reform and their commitment around football, with people talking about women’s football, the League of Ireland, as well as the good backing for Stephen Kenny.”
Chambers said that €21m in capital grants applications by grassroots football demonstrated the strength of the game and the appetite to grow the sport.
In total €15m in Core Funding for sporting bodies was announced by Sport Ireland yesterday, with Special Olympics Ireland receiving €1.4m — the highest amount (outside football, rugby and GAA).
Athletics Ireland (€1.1m), Swim Ireland — with €1.05m — and Horse Sport Ireland (€975,000) are the next highest organisations to benefit.
The only drop in payments comes for the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) who have seen a 15% penalty to €500,000, as part of its ongoing refusal to accept restructure and reform.
Sport Ireland said it is holding ongoing discussions with the association but didn’t sound hopeful that a resolution could be reached in the short-term.
SI’s Director of High Performance & National Governing Bodies Paul McDermott encouraged the IABA to engage in “ongoing dialogue” which will result in a set of proposals acceptable for all.
“They have to figure out how the executive and the board and the central council work together,” said McDermott.
“It is a problem of their own making, and they have to project outwards some sense that they want to progress.”
Chambers warned that the ongoing problems with Irish boxing wouldn’t be allowed to continue on a “never ever” basis, with “individuals focusing on their own agendas rather than the greater good of boxing”.
“There’s still ongoing conflict and dispute around what the governance architecture should be, but our demand is that they find a solution within their structures and come forward with concrete proposals to meet that basic standard of governance,” he said.
“We can’t have this ongoing conflict which is overshadowing the great success of boxing and we’re discussing governance instead of the great sporting success and the huge potential of boxing.”
On the issue of gender balance, in which sporting organisations must have 40% female representation at board level by the end of 2023, Sport Ireland refused to identify individual bodies which are not engaging on the issue.
“There are sports which don’t engage with us much and are quite far behind,” said McDermott.
He added that the issue of financial penalties for those who do not achieve fair representation is not something that is being discussed currently and is for the end of next year, but warned that “there will be consequences and penalties, but it won’t be the same for everybody”.
In the area of diversity and inclusion for transgender athletes, Sport Ireland said it was giving guidance on the matter but ultimately it was a “complex issue” which would be dictated “in the context of (each sport’s) own rules”.
