Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 June 2022

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

Social Outcome Contracts in Irish Sport: Discussion

Mr. Liam McGroarty:

That would be the ultimate goal. There has to be investment at the high end. It is right that our sports invest to be competitive and win medals on the world stage, as sports should. That is the right thing to do. However, in every country, the investment is always very heavily weighted towards those outcomes, and that is okay. The social outcome contract, SOC, is bringing in new investment for the purpose of developing the grassroots so that there is a much wider base and it is affecting more people. That will have an effect on high performance at a later stage and will increase performances. However, that is not the goal. The primary goal is that more people will be able to access sport in a way that will affect their health, education and employment outcomes. It will affect them on a much different level. It is new investment specifically for that outcome. The sports club is then designed to do that, as opposed to just doing it by default, and it is measured to do that. We are measuring the coaches, the dressing rooms and whether these places are better and more accessible for people because of the way this sport is designed.

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