Mr. John Treacy:

The Irish Sports Council is the statutory body for sport, established in July 1999 under the Irish Sports Council Act 1999. We are responsible for planning, leading and co-ordinating the sustainable development of competitive and recreational sport. In 2014, a total of €42.5 million will be invested by the public, through the council, in the areas of anti-doping, coaching, governing bodies, high performance, participation, national trails and the Irish Institute of Sport. A total of 92% of the council’s funding will go directly to programmes.

The council has 35 full time staff, 19 of whom are based in Dublin and a further 18 in Limerick following Coaching Ireland’s integration into the Irish Sports Council in January 2013.

To support our mission, the council prepares a three-year strategy statement. For the period 2012 to 2014, the council's priorities are advancing the participation strategy, developing the capacity of the national governing body sector and sustaining high-performance systems. Participation in sport in Ireland continues to grow at an unprecedented level. The latest statistics announced yesterday from the ISC, published under the title of the Irish Sports Monitor, indicate that 47.2% of people participated in sport in 2013, compared to 44.8% in 2011. In real terms, that is 1,700,000 people participating in sport on a weekly basis. That is up 85,000 in the last three years. This positive trend is reinforced by the continued decrease in sedentary lifestyles, falling to 12.6% in 2013 from 13.8% in 2011. Sport is also playing a significant part in closing the gender gap. The research released yesterday highlights that between 2011 and 2013, women’s participation in sport grew from 40.9% to 42.7%. This represents roughly an additional 32,000 women taking part in some form of sporting activity. Closing the gender gap is hugely important for our participation levels.

The council continues to lead in the area of welfare and the protection of young people in sport. We play an advisory role on this for the sporting organisations. The code of ethics and good practice for children's sport provides support to those involved in sport for young people to provide a safe, positive and nurturing environment where children can develop and enhance their physical and social skills.

In the area of high performance, Ireland continues to excel on the world stage. In 2013, Ireland achieved an unprecedented 67 medals at world and European level. To put this in context, in 2000, following the establishment of the council, six medals were achieved at world and European levels. In London, we achieved our most successful Olympic and Paralympic games, returning a record five Olympic and 16 Paralympic medals. It was far beyond our own expectations of what could have been achieved. We published our targets the year before the Olympic Games and we exceeded them. This year, 2014, is set to be another phenomenal year on the track, in the ring, on the road and in the water. The success of athletes such as Martyn Irvine, Mark English, Jason Smyth, Katie Taylor and Michael McKillop represents the most successful sustained period in the history of high-performance sport in Ireland.

This is due to sustained investment over a long period, which is how we build a high-performance system.
This success is also based on high-performance strategies we have developed and continue to develop. In 2001, we launched our first strategy. In 2014 we will work with 19 governing bodies of sport on development of their high-performance plans. Eighty-five athletes will be directly supported under the international carding scheme based on the criteria for podium, world class and international athletes, while nine golfers will be supported under the Team Ireland golf trust programme. We are also implementing the recommendations of the independent review following our London performance and have successfully implemented the transition of the international carding scheme to athletics, sailing and swimming, as recommended in the review.
At the Irish Institute of Sport, we are providing high-performance athletes and coaches with an environment to perform on the world stage through the delivery of world-class supports, people and systems. In 2013, 183 athletes from 20 sports attended clinics at the institute, with over 2,600 hours of support services provided directly to athletes. In the context of high-performance sport, it is important to ensure we deliver world class services in Ireland for our athletes so they do not need to go overseas. Plans are in place for development of a high-performance system at our sports campus, and this will ensure our athletes will have world-class support here. This is another important milestone in the development of a high-performance system in Ireland.
Underpinning the success at both elite and grassroots level are the national governing bodies of sport, NGBs. We work closely with over 60 governing bodies. With their member clubs and affiliates, national governing bodies organise and administer most of the organised sport in Ireland. They train and deploy coaches, organise representative level sport and provide sporting opportunities and pathways from local sport to national and international competition. Our investment is used to support NGBs in the areas of strategic planning, administration, information technology, competitions, equipment, coaching and core activities, including the code of ethics and anti-doping programmes. We are also implementing a capacity-building programme with the governing bodies and offer a myriad of programmes through which we can upskill the sector and professional people within the organisations. We also offer corporate governance support for boards of NGBs. This support is provided directly if required or if we see the need for it.
In 2014, membership across the sporting sector reached record highs. Membership in athletics has increased 62.7% since 2010, to 49,000, while cycling membership has increased by 207.2% since 2010, to over 20,000. NGBs are putting themselves in an appropriate position to help people participating in sport and to provide sustained involvement to members of clubs. It is vital that this work continue.
The Irish Sports Council is encouraging all funded bodies to sign up to the governance code for the community and voluntary organisations. As the first State agency in Ireland to encourage the adoption of the code, we are looking to empower funded bodies to achieve excellence in all areas of their work, ensuring their sustainability for the future. In 2013, the then Minister and Minister of State, Deputies Varadkar and Ring, asked Mr. Paul Turpin, governance specialist with the Institute of Public Administration, to examine the Irish Sports Council’s procedures in regard to conflicts of interest on the part of members of the council and to assess whether it meets the requirements of good corporate governance and to make such recommendations in regard to improved corporate governance in the Irish Sports Council as might arise from his examination. Mr. Turpin submitted his report to the Minister in December and it was published in January 2014. The Irish Sports Council welcomed the report, which found that the council's procedures are “in line with norms and practices prevailing within the State and public sector bodies,” and furthermore that “the current written Irish Sports Council procedures correspond with the main principles of good governance”.
On the issue of anti-doping, our commitment to clean sport is relentless. Our world class anti-doping programme is internationally recognised by the world anti-doping agency. In 2013, 868 tests were conducted as part of the national testing programme, with three anti-doping violations recorded. We will probably carry out a similar number of tests in 2014 and are on track in that regard. Our programme continues to be intelligence-led, including the development of quality-led targeted blood testing. We work with representatives of the Irish Medicines Board, the Garda national drugs unit and the Revenue Commissioners' customs service to further establish the intelligence programme within the anti-doping unit.
I hope I have been able to give the committee some flavour of the work of the council. In the context of participation, numbers are increasing significantly and we see an impact in terms of the work of the local sports partnerships, LSPs, and national governing bodies, with the co-operation of the Departments of Health and Transport, Tourism and Sport, in terms of ensuring we are all on the same message to encourage people to participate in sport for the sake of their health and well-being. This will save the country money. In the high-performance area, we are a cut above the rest and are doing extremely well. Our institute of sport is developing nicely and developing world-class services for our athletes.