Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In 2016, the overall sports allocation will increase by 40% to €126 million - a strong recognition by Government of the value of sport in all aspects of Irish society. The current expenditure allocation for the recently established Sport Ireland for 2016 is €47 million. This is an increase of €3 million on the total current funding provided to the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus Development Authority last year. This funding will assist the national governing bodies of sports and our high-performance athletes in their preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio in August and September.

Further funding of €4.5 million is being made available for sports measures through dormant accounts funding. The focus of this funding will be to support the implementation of the national physical activity plan in disadvantaged communities. Sport Ireland will continue to support the community sport hubs which were piloted last year through the local sports partnerships under dormant accounts funding. In recent years there has been an increase in the popularity of activities like walking, running, cycling and swimming. I propose to allocate dormant accounts funding through Sport Ireland and the national governing bodies of sport for the further development of the get Ireland walking programme and the development of new get Ireland cycling, running and swimming programmes. Investment will also be made in programmes to address the high dropout rates from sport among specific groups.

Almost €25 million is being provided for the development of the national sports campus, including completion of phase one of the national indoor arena. Other major components of the sports programme include the sports capital programme and the local authority swimming pools programme. Provision has been made for the Páirc Uí Chaoimh redevelopment and for the Kerry sports academy in Tralee. It is possible that spending originally envisaged for both these projects in 2016 may not happen until 2017 but it is still too early in the year to be definitive.