The Federation of Irish Sport is the representative organisation for the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in Ireland. The Federation’s membership consists of over 110 NGBs and LSPs from every corner of the country, including the GAA, FAI, IRFU, Swim Ireland and Athletics Ireland.
Our role is to speak on behalf of our members and represent their views to the public, while also providing them with a range of services. As governing bodies, our members’ priorities lie with their sport. Therefore, our job is to communicate their views regarding the benefits of sport in areas such as personal health/wellbeing, the economy and society as a whole.
We are “The Voice of Irish Sport”.
BACKGROUND
The Federation of Irish Sport was established in 2002 by the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs). Currently, the Federation’s membership is made up of 81 NGBs and 29 LSPs, meaning that we represent over 13,000 sports clubs nationwide.
The reasons behind the foundation of the Federation included:
- The under representation of the sector given the significant number of Irish people involved with sport
- The increased investment in Irish sport that was happening at the time
- The new projects coming on stream at a very high rate
- The need for advice and consultancy given the increased pressure on NGBs
- The need for a “Voice of Irish Sport.”
VISION & OBJECTIVES
Our goals include:
- To ensure that sport is recognised and used by government as a key tool in the creation of a better Ireland
- To increase the operational effectiveness of our members
- To be the independent and authoritative voice of Irish sport
- To raise public awareness of the contribution of sport and the work of our members to Irish society
- To strengthen resources through strategic partnerships
The objectives of the Federation of Irish Sport are:
- To raise political awareness around the benefits of sport to society
- To increase state investment in sport
- To underpin and promote sport as part of education
- To establish and promote sport as part of health
- To increase interaction between NGBs and LSPs