Ms Mary O'Connor:

To reply to Senator O'Mahony's question on the rowing situation for the Olympics in Tokyo 2020, Ireland is always compared to New Zealand because of population and other factors. Over the next four years, Sport New Zealand is investing NZ$250 million in the high performance sector alone. In the same sector in Ireland, going by what has been generated this year, the investment is €28 million. There is a huge disparity there.

On Senator Feighan's question, Mr. Treacy and Mr. McDermott will have more knowledge of this, but every national governing body and any local sports partnership that receives funding fills out an operational plan. The amount of money spent by that organisation is submitted back to Sports Ireland in great detail so that it can see where the money is going. In terms of the return in investment, financially the results are there for all to see. Sport in Ireland stimulates €1.9 billion in household spending. It creates €2.4 billion in added value to the economy.

A key item that has not been mentioned today is the value of sport tourism. Many of the minority sports we speak about, the emerging or niche sports, contribute so much to Ireland's tourism offering. Sports such as golf, cycling and angling, which attract tourists, contribute €1 billion in receipts to Ireland each year. In terms of return on investment, for each €1 invested in coaching in GAA €12 is generated.

It is important that we see the value of physical well-being that sport generates, but the economic value of sport should be highlighted as well, as should the fact that investment in sport is returned tenfold.