Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank members of the committee for the opportunity to brief them ahead of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council next week in Brussels. We have made progress on a number of our priorities for sport during the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU. I am looking forward to chairing the Council of Sport Ministers and to an engaging debate with my EU colleagues.

There are huge economic, social and health benefits to be gained from sport. In the current economic climate, it is important to recognise the importance of sport for economic and social development both at national and European level. Sport plays a vital role in improving the health and well-being of our citizens and instils a sense of place and belonging among those who play and those who follow sport. From a health perspective alone, there are clearly significant benefits in maintaining and increasing participation levels in sport and physical activity.

While recognising that sport policy remains a matter for member states, the new EU competence for sport allows the EU and member states the opportunity to work more closely together to address issues of common interest and share best practice. It also gives us the opportunity to speak with one voice at international level, particularly in areas such as the fight against doping, which is a particular concern of mine, and the fight against corruption in sport.

Working together at EU level we can strive to better protect the integrity of sport through the targeting of cheating at all levels and promoting healthy, fair and enjoyable sport.

We have focused on three main sport priorities during the Irish Presidency in the areas of dual careers, the sustainable financing of sport and issues around protecting the integrity of sport. Next week’s Council meeting will focus on dual careers for elite sports people and protecting the integrity of sport in the area of anti-doping. Before I expand on these agenda issues, I would like to briefly outline to the committee the work that the Irish Presidency has done around the sustainable financing of sport.

There is growing evidence that sport makes a significant contribution to Europe’s economy and is an important driver of driver of growth and employment. It also ensures social cohesion and well-being. This contributes to achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 growth strategy. However, the current economic and financial crisis is having a major impact on public spending across the EU, including the financing of sport. Sustainable financing of sport was the theme of a sports conference and a meeting of EU sport directors which took place in Dublin Castle on 7 and 8 March. The conference was attended by representatives of the key sports organisations across Europe. The two events addressed issues such as how sport is currently financed; the redistribution of income within sport; the financial challenges facing the sport sector; and best practice examples of how international organisations finance sport.

The promotion of dual careers for elite sports people has been another focus of the Irish Presidency. Sports people often face challenges combining their sporting career with education or work. Success at the highest level of a sport demands intensive training and competitions at home and abroad. It can be difficult to combine this with education and work commitments. Retiring sports people can also face difficulties moving from a sports career to a new career. We need to avoid the situation where talented and elite sports people are forced to choose between education and sport or work and sport. Last November, an EU expert group on education and training in sport produced a set of guidelines on dual careers of sports people. These included recommended policy actions in support of dual careers in high performance sport. Given the growing importance of this matter, the Irish Presidency has prepared a set of Council conclusions on dual careers which will be adopted at next week’s Council meeting.

While enormous strides have been made internationally in the fight against doping in sport through the work of the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, recent high profile cases have shown that doping remains one of the major challenges facing the sport sector. The Lance Armstrong case, the Operation Puerto trial in Spain and the Australian Crime Commission investigation into organised crime and drugs highlight the continuing global threat of doping to the integrity of sport. Cheating and corruption have no place in sport and undermine the fundamental principles of honesty and fair play. Elite athletes are role models, particularly for young people, and their success in honest and fair competition can encourage participation and boost morale. While elite athletes who are found guilty of doping receive sanctions, they may have won significant sums of prize money during their careers and can continue to live off proceeds which have been won dishonestly. Doping not only compromises the principle of open and equal competition, but also poses a serious threat to individual and public health and can have damaging long-term effects on people’s health.

While there have been significant advancements in the testing tools to fight against doping, methods of cheating have also become more sophisticated and there is a need to be vigilant to new ways of doping emerging. There is also evidence of a growing influence of criminality in sport, for example, through the trafficking of performance enhancing drugs. Protecting the integrity of sport against doping is an ongoing global challenge which requires international and cross-sectoral co-operation and action. Governments, sports bodies and national anti-doping agencies need to continue to work together to fight this problem and ensure a level playing field globally. I am pleased that Ireland, through my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, is one of three EU representatives on the WADA foundation board from January until July 2014. The Minister is attending a meeting of the WADA foundation board in Montreal this weekend.

The policy debate at next week’s Council of EU Sport Ministers will focus on the role of governments in combating the increased sophistication of doping in sport. EU sports Ministers will discuss if there are ways in which governments can be more effective in the fight against doping. I will also meet high level representatives of the sports movement to discuss this important issue when I host the EU high level structured dialogue in Brussels prior to the Council of Ministers meeting. This established process brings together leading representatives of EU public authorities and the sports movement to exchange views on topical sporting issues in the EU. The discussion at next week’s structured dialogue will focus on how governments and the sports movement can work in partnership to combat the increased sophistication of doping in sport.

Since January, a slightly different format has been used for the Council meetings, with the Presidency inviting external speakers to encourage free flowing and interactive discussion among Ministers. Although external guest speakers have been invited to previous Council meetings, what is new is the idea of encouraging Ministers to intervene more spontaneously in response to what the speakers or other Ministers have said without scripted interventions and allowing the external speakers to respond to the debate as it unfolds. The Irish Presidency has invited the chief executive officer of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Mr Travis Tygart, to address the Council of EU sports Ministers. I am delighted that someone as high-profile as Mr Tygart has agreed to address EU sport Ministers and provide his unique insights and perspective on anti-doping. I hope Ministers will leave the discussion with some practical ideas they can take back to their capitals for discussion.

I am very pleased with the progress made on sport issues during the Irish Presidency, particularly in respect of strengthening integrity measures. Ireland has a long and distinguished tradition as a sporting nation and in this, our seventh EU Presidency, I believe that this tradition, together with our experience, has contributed to a successful Presidency in the field of sport.

I also wish to take this opportunity to outline what the Government has been doing at national over the past two years. In our first year of Government, we introduced a local authority swimming pool initiative, whereby we spent €14 million throughout the country to enhanced disabled access and reduce energy costs. Last year, we allocated €1.25 million to the Irish Amateur Boxing Association to improve its facilities, particularly for female boxers. Last month, I allocated a further €1 million for boxing clubs to upgrade training facilities for young boxers, particularly women. Some €4.5 million was allocated to local authorities in 2011 under a special shovel-ready initiative to provide facilities aimed at participation. That worked out very well. In 2012, some €1.66 million was allocated under a special tracks initiative to develop four athletic tracks around the country. More than €2.6 million was allocated in 2012 through the national governing bodies in equipment grants. We also allocated €424,000 to Connaught Rugby so that it could host the Heineken Cup and RaboDirect Pro12 matches in Galway. The Irish Sports Council received €44.5 million in 2012 and over €43 million in 2013. We won 64 medals in events at the Olympics, Paralympics and other world and European level sporting events. Participation levels in sport have increased and we are protecting funding as best we can in these difficult economic times. The total sports budget this year is more than €72 million, including capital investments worth €27 million across the sports capital programme, the local authority swimming pools programme and the development of the national sports campus.

I am more than happy to answer any questions that members may wish to raise.