Mr. John Treacy:

I thank the Chairman. It is a pleasure to be with the committee today. I am joined by my colleague, Paul McDermott, director of national governing bodies and high performance sport. My statement is a bit long. I will go through it, though not in detail. I will highlight some of the issues.

When the restrictions were put in place in March, Sport Ireland responded quickly to its role in terms of protecting public health and supporting the sport sector. Sport Ireland identified three areas of focus: making the case for the inclusion of sports in the Government's roadmap; creating an environment where high performance athletes could return to training as quickly as possible; and presenting a strong case to Government to ensure the financial stability of the sport sector during the pandemic. There was a high level of collaboration across the sector to achieve these objectives, specifically with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, including our colleagues here today, the NGBs, the Federation of Irish Sport, Sport Northern Ireland with which we meet regularly, the Olympic federation and Paralympics Ireland. The €70 million Covid-19 funding package secured for the sport sector has been greatly appreciated and Sport Ireland wishes to acknowledge the Government's support in this regard.

Sport Ireland undertook an initial analysis to identify the potential short and medium-term challenge facing the sport in Ireland. This analysis showed that for the first three months of the crisis beginning in March the NGB sector would have the capacity and capability to manage a period of intense restrictions without significant issue. Four to six months would be a significant challenge for sports, especially those with a summer season. Beyond that, and into the winter season for indoor sports, the crisis presented a much broader sectoral challenge. NGBs with strong governance and financial structures are considered to be in a position to utilise both their reserves and reduced expenditure levels to address unforeseen costs arising for a period of time.

The Government support schemes introduced during the crisis have been essential to ensuring the continued operation of many organisations. Specifically, the wage subsidy scheme has allowed NGBs to retain staff during a period of great uncertainty.

The development of the Government's Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business offered a pathway for sport to return in a controlled and phased manner, with the acceleration of the roadmap presenting a more positive outlook. Notwithstanding the financial challenges associated with the restrictions through loss of gate receipts, membership income and commercial activity, the primary challenge for NGBs is the uncertainty associated with planning for the future, particularly the planning of competitions and events. We are particularly mindful of the challenges facing sports that are primarily indoor-based and most active during the winter period.

The establishment of the return to sport expert group arose from specific concerns within the sport sector regarding the chain of approval of their return to sport protocols. The group, chaired by the Department's Peter Hogan, has done an excellent job in providing guidance and approval to the sector as it moves through the roadmap.

The return of our high performance athletes to training bases around the country was hugely significant. We were delighted that they were able to go back on track again. The postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games was obviously a setback but Sport Ireland moved quickly to reassure the athletes that their funding would be maintained and would run into 2021.

A positive to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis is the innovation of our NGBs, partnerships, clubs and groups. Since the onset of the restrictions in March, sporting organisations have shown great adaptability to support their memberships and communities. In particular, social media and other online platforms have been used to great effect to continue to provide fun, engaging and regular advice, classes and challenges to people of all ages.

The importance of maintaining physical and mental well-being has been evident in all facets of society during the crisis, especially during the lockdown stage. Sporting organisations came to the fore in that. We conducted research on that as well. There were significant increases in sport and physical activity, with the rate of sporting activity jumping from 43% up to 51%, with participation in exercise, running and cycling jumping significantly. The other good news was there was a significant decline in the proportion of people described as sedentary during that period. There was also a big jump in the number walking, with a 18% increase. We got to the highest level ever recorded of 83%, which is equivalent to 3 million regular walkers.

Throughout the crisis, Sport Ireland has continued to support the sector and we have rolled out a number of programmes that have supported the sector through this. Whether it is a large NGB, a small NGB or a local sports partnership, all of these programmes are being rolled out. There was Covid compliance officer training, Covid awareness courses which we ran for NGBs, local sports partnerships, clubs and communities, and we continue to roll out guidelines and infographics which explain the various phases of the roadmap.

In June of this year, the Government announced funding of €70 million. The purpose of the funding is to protect the national sports system and to invest in people and sports programmes which will play a major role in the long-term public health response to Covid-19. The funding is made up of four separate streams: funding of up to €40 million for the three main field sports, which were before the committee this morning; a resilience fund of up to €10 million to support the national governing bodies of sport; a sports club resilience fund of up to €15 million to support clubs; and a sports restart and renewal fund of up to €5 million. The closing date for that programme was last Monday, 14 September, and 39 of the 60 NGBs have applied for funding. We will be working through those applications, we expect to have decisions made during the month of October and an announcement will probably be made at the end of October.

Looking forward to 2021, Sport Ireland anticipates further challenges ahead for the sports sector. However, the resilience shown to date gives Sport Ireland confidence that through our continued collaboration with all partners, we will see a full return to sport by a thriving sector in due course.