Mr. Liam McGarry:

The focus is on athletes, and rightly so. However, I will give my experience as a non-athlete. My sister was born in 1987 with Down's syndrome and that changed things for us. It was a learning experience and a very beneficial experience. In 2002 I understood what Special Olympics was for the first time, although I knew my sister, Una, went to gymnastics every Tuesday night. I went to the Dublin games and began to see the extent of it. It involves families and volunteers, and I began to see the sense of occasion and the social elements.

I went to the Special Olympics World Games as a volunteer. I was involved in other sports organisations. Although Belfast played a small part, it was still a key part of the towns programme. In Belfast we had a team of 400 and it was probably one of the best weeks of my life. That spirit that was gained there was crucial and it came back again when the Special Olympics National Games came to Belfast in 2006. That was the first time Belfast has held such a big multi-sport event. Last year we hosted the World Police and Fire Games. That was down to the Special Olympics originally creating events there.

For the 2006 games we looked for volunteers. The first time we went for volunteers we had 30 at the event. We held five events at the City Hall. At the penultimate event we had to shut the doors of the main room because we had too many people. At the last event we had to shut the doors of City Hall because there were so many people, building on the goodwill. There was a momentum there. After the 2003 games this momentum had been lost. Some people were keen and got involved in clubs, but the movement in Ulster was very small so there was no model to facilitate all this goodwill.

In 2006 we had built up 6,000 volunteers. There was such goodwill and there is an obvious need - I will not go through the statistics - but there was a need not to let the opportunity go, as we had done in 2003. There was momentum with Special Olympics Ulster. It was very clear in Ulster that Special Olympics Ireland was doing a great job at the world games and had a good structure. As has been mentioned, it is world-class. Northern Ireland was severely under-represented. We have this goodwill and these large numbers of volunteers but we need some mechanism to utilise all these strengths. A strategy was evolved for Special Olympics Ulster to plan how it will work. This became a plan people could get behind.

We started approaching the various governing bodies and it quickly became apparent that this is bigger than sport, with aspects including goodwill, visitors, volunteers and education. We went to the Department with responsibility for sport initially and, speaking to politicians, there was an opportunity to present to various Ministers. In a first for Northern Ireland, five Departments came to witness a presentation. We started in 2007 after the national games. The presentation to Ministers was in 2008 and in May 2009 we began a business case process. A business case is a document that allows the Government to fund above a certain amount, and that is standard across all Departments. Once one Department had taken the lead, it allowed us to create the business case which other Departments would then accept.

Further analysis of the business case brought us to 2011, when there was funding. As with every other aspect of public funding, our business case had to show clear targets, a clear plan and value for money. Sport had to take the lead, and once the case was proved it went to other Departments for a contribution. Five Departments decided to contribute on an equal basis. That model has been in place for four years.

I will hand over to my colleague Mr. John McKernan, who has been involved with Special Olympics since 2006 and is chairperson of Special Olympics Ulster.