Written answers
Thursday, 15 February 2024
Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Sport and Recreational Development
Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to provide an outline of measures taken by her Department and its relevant agencies to encourage volunteering in sport. [7030/24]
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Through Dormant Accounts funding, Sport Ireland has a dedicated fund, "Volunteer Supports", to which the Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) and National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) can apply for funding. The "Volunteer Supports" initiative aims to identify and assist targeted individuals who are volunteering in disadvantaged communities or with people with disabilities to gain community sport and physical activity leadership skills e.g. as coaches, leaders, referees, committee members. This initiative can also target secondary school aged learners who wish to develop their leadership skills.
This funding stream is intended to support individuals to operate in a volunteer capacity within disadvantaged communities or with people with disabilities. Opportunities are extended to support individuals who are under-represented at all levels of volunteering, including ethnic minorities, asylum seekers and refugees, Traveller and Roma, women and girls, and people with a disability. In 2023, there was a total investment of €1,260,000 on these volunteer-related initiatives.
Sports volunteering is afforded a high priority in our plans to develop sport in Ireland. Last month, I launched a new Sport Ireland Policy on Volunteering in Sport. This new policy, which was developed following a highly consultative process, identifies a wide range of initiatives to empower the sport sector to tackle the challenges currently faced through clear, evidence-based and data-driven solutions. The policy has identified four key policy objectives:
- Diversify the Volunteer Base.
- Recruit and Grow the Volunteer Population.
- Retain Volunteers and Encourage Lifelong Volunteering.
- Recognise and Value Volunteers.
- Investment in NGBs, LSPs and funded bodies to improve the volunteer experience.
- Resource professional roles across the sport sector.
- Establish a Volunteer in Sport Working Group.
- Create a Volunteer in Sport Digital Resource.
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