Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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1360. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the fact that the Irish Sports Council have no database on file of participants in sports nationwide; his further views on whether it is valuable to keep track of the number of participants in each sport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19984/17]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Sport Ireland captures information on the numbers participating in various sports in a number of ways. As part of the annual Core Grant application process, each National Governing Body of Sport is required to provide detailed information on its membership, including number of members, gender breakdown and age breakdown. In addition, information on the number of participants who engage with Local Sports Partnership programmes and initiatives is published annually.

The Irish Sports Monitor is a large scale population based survey designed to capture information on active and social participation in sport and exercise among adults aged 16 years or older. The Irish Sports Monitor Report is published by Sport Ireland on a bi-annual basis. The 2015 Report shows that almost 1.6 million Irish adults participate in sport regularly. Fieldwork is currently underway for the 2017 Irish Sports Monitor. In relation to participation by children, the Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study commissioned by Sport Ireland and published in 2010 is a detailed survey of participation in sport, physical activity and physical education among children aged 10-18.

One of the Government's key priorities for sport is to increase the levels of participation in sport in order that people can enjoy the health, social and economic benefits that arise from sport. In addition, the overarching target of the National Physical Activity Plan is to increase the proportion of the population across each life stage undertaking regular physical activity by 1% per annum. The data and information available is crucial to continued monitoring of participation levels and for informing any future policy options.