Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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698. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has had discussions with the Olympic Council of Ireland in relation to the possibility of them making a submission to the international Olympic Council to include Irish dancing or ballroom dancing as a sport in the forthcoming 2028 and 2032 Olympics in Los Angeles and Brisbane respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28939/25]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The National Olympic Committee for Ireland is the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) and it is an independent and autonomous organisation. Neither I nor my department have any function in relation to the OFI's engagement with the International Olympic Committee. I have not had any engagement with the OFI regarding the matter raised by the deputy.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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699. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the funding the Olympic Council of Ireland receive annually and whether consideration has been given to increasing this figure substantially to ensure Ireland can be represented in as many competitive sports in the forthcoming Olympic Games, in the 2028 and 2032 Olympics in Los Angeles and Brisbane respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28940/25]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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For the Paris Olympic cycle 2021-2024, the Government provided a record-level investment of approximately €89 million towards high performance sport. This was a substantial increase on the €59 million invested for the previous Tokyo Olympic cycle 2017-2020. In line with the Government’s target of delivering €30 million per annum for high performance sport by 2027, as indicated in the National Sports policy 2018-2027, Sport Ireland has announced that €27 million will be invested in high performance sport in 2025.

This figure includes €600,000 in HP Operations and Admin funding for the Olympic Federation of Ireland in 2025, an increase of €100,000 on the figure allocated in 2024. Full details may be seen in the attached brochure, which is also available from the Sport Ireland website here: www.sportireland.ie/sites/default/files/media/document/2025-03/HP_invest_UPDATED.pdf

This increased funding for high performance sport will reflect, in particular, the High Performance Strategy 2021-2032, which provides the over-arching policy framework for the development of the high performance system for the next two Olympiads in Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

With the benefit of this considerable support from the Government, I am confident that Team Ireland's participation in the next Olympic and Paralympic Games will build on the successes of recent Games.