Sarah O’Shea New Chair of the Federation of Irish Sport

Jan 31, 2013

Sarah O’Shea was appointed as Chair of the Federation of Irish Sport following Fergus Murphy’s decision to step down due to increasing work commitments. She has been on the Executive Committee of the Federation for four years. Sarah is the Legal Director at the Football Association of Ireland (“FAI”) and is currently a member of the UEFA Hattrick Committee.

She works across a broad range of areas including regulatory, commercial and disciplinary and has been involved in projects including the Aviva Stadium and Europa League Final Dublin 2011.

Speaking on her appointment Sarah said, “I am delighted to have been appointed Chair of the Federation. Whilst much progress has been made in recent years, there is still much to be done to increase awareness of the wider contribution of sport to Irish society. I look forward to meeting this challenge and to working with all of the Federation’s membership to ensure that their vital contribution to Irish Life is recognised and supported.”

Featured Member: Basketball Ireland

Jan 31, 2013

Sustainable Financing of Sport and Dual Careers Among Priorities for Irish Presidency

Jan 31, 2013

Minister Ring, speaking at the European Parliament on January 23^rd, confirmed that the sustainable financing of sport and dual careers for sportspeople would be the key issues from the EU Work Plan on Sport that Ireland would seek to progress during its European Presidency.

Speaking in Brussells,  Minister Ring was keen to highlight the positive impact of sport:

“There are huge economic and social benefits to be gained from sport. In the current climate it is important to recognise the importance of sport for economic and social development, both at national and European level. Sport plays a vital role in improving the health and well being of our citizens and instills a sense of place and belonging among those who play and those who follow sport.”

On Ireland’s Presidency, Minsister Ring continued:

“The Irish Presidency aims to ensure the implementation of the first EU workplan of sport in cooperation with the Commission and the Member States; and indeed with the support of our colleagues in the European Parliment, our priorities include dual careers, the sustainable financing of sport and issues around protecting the integrity of sport.”

Minister Ring said it was important that situations where sports people were forced to choose between either education and/or work and sport needs to be avoided. The Irish Presidency, in light of the increasing demands on professional sports players, will prepare a set of conclusions on dual careers with a view to them being adopted at the meeting of the Education, Culture, Youth & Sport Council in May

The sustainable financing of sport is another focus of the Irish presidency with Minister Ring indicating that the issue of economic contribution of sport and the financing of sport will be a common theme throughout the current trio of presidency.

On the econominc contribution of sport, Minister Ring said:

“The contribution of sport to economic growth and employment has been recorded by a series of recent studies. The gross value added by in the EU in €173bn or 1.76% of the EU total value; 3.1 million people are employed in sport in the EU and this amounts to 2.12% of total EU employment.”

Other areas of focus for the Irish Presidency include the areas of matching fixing and doping. Speaking about priorities for sport during Ireland’s presidency, the Federation of Irish Sport Chief Executive, Sarah O’Connor said:

“The Presidency gives Ireland an opportunity to contribute to the on-going development of European sports policy. Our track record of involvement in Europe in relation to sport was limited up until recently. However, this has approved over the last two years with the appointment of Irish representatives to each of the six EU Expert Groups on Sport. It is good to see that the focus of our Presidency will be on some of the outcomes of 3 of those Expert Groups.

“The Federation also welcomes Minister Ring’s acknowledgement of the contribution of sport to economic growth and employment. The Federation has sought to heighten awareness of this in Ireland with recent European research indicating that up to 40,000 jobs are supported by sport in Ireland alone with sport contributing €2.4 billion to GDP.”

Ireland will host will host two sport related events over the course of the Presidency with a conference on the Sustainable Financing of Sport on the 7^th March with an informal meeting of the Sport Directors from across the EU taking place the following day. Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, will also represent Europe on the World Anti Doping Authority (WADA) council for the next 18 months.

Sport at British Irish Chamber Conference

Jan 31, 2013

The role of sport in promoting business opportunities was one of the topics for conversation at the recent inaugral British Irish Chamber of Commerce Conference held at the Aviva Stadium on 24^th & 25^th January.

The discussion on culture, tourism and sport was designed to develop two or three initiatives to be brought to government to assist collaboration between those sectors and business. The speakers included former Irish rugby international and Chair of the Ireland Funds, Hugo MacNeill, CEO of Business2Arts, Stuart McLaughlin and musician, film-maker and broadcaster Philip King.

There was general agreement that culture and sport had a key role to play in forging relations between Britian and Ireland.  It was recognised that there was a need for more data or information on the role of culture and sport in particular. Research however should focus not just on quantitative information but also qualitative.

The need for a joining of the dots was also highlighted. The positive impact on business of the Navy v Notre Dame rugby match was mentioned but it was felt that there could be more communication around such events so that business was better place to take advantage of the influx of people and sense of occasion created by such events.

The role culture and sport could play in contributing to the development of a shared future between he communities in Northern Ireland was also emphasised.  Hugo MacNeil stated that a best in class economy was simply not possible whilst sectarianism was in existence. He felt there was a role for sport and culture in bringing sectarianism to an end mentioning that the highlight of his rugby career was the involvement in the Peace International in Landsdowne Road in 1996.

The British Irish Chamber of Commerce was established in August 2011 with a view to assisting and improving the longstanding commercial and economic relationship between the Islands. The Chamber has a Culture, Tourism & Sport Committee of which Ulster Bank’s Head of Product and Service Sales is Chair. Further information on the British Irish Chamber of Commerce can be found on their website www.britishirishchamber.com

Athletics Ireland Team Up With New Balance

Jan 31, 2013

Global athletics brand New Balance has been named as the new sponsor for Athletics Ireland in a multi-year deal.

The new partnership sees New Balance supply the Irish track and field team with a full selection of team wear, including performance apparel for use in competition in all Irish events, World Championships and European Championships. New Balance will also supply training and warm up items and leisurewear for medal ceremonies, travelling and public appearances.

The inaugural collection is patriotic green and white with a gold trim. It was modelled at the launch in Dublin by New Balance sponsored athletes including marathon runner Ava Hutchinson, the 2010 World Junior Silver medalist, Ciara Mageean and the latest athlete to join Team New Balance; 5000m and 10000m runner Fionnuala Britton.

Ireland has always played an important role in the history of New Balance with sponsorships of several high profile athletes over the years such as Olympic Silver medallist John Treacy and three times World Indoor Champion Marcus O’Sullivan. Ireland was also New Balance’s first foray into the European market in 1978 when the brand manufactured in Tralee.

Tom Carleo, New Balance Vice President of Footwear Running/Outdoor said, “When the opportunity to create a partnership between New Balance and Athletics Ireland arose, we jumped at the chance to work with them. It will be a pleasure to design product that is both modern and heritage inspired that will make the athletes and their fans proud. The collaboration with Athletics Ireland and the significant growth we have experienced here reinforce our ambition to become the number one running and athletics brand in the world.”

John Foley, Athletics Ireland Chief Executive Officer said “New Balance is genuinely passionate about growing athletics in Ireland and supporting the current and future crop of athletes who are part of the Irish team. Working together I’m sure we will be able to elevate Ireland’s athletic profile even further.”

Picture Credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE ©SPORTSFILE

Charities Consultation, Sports Capital Programme & Cycle Tourism are amongst the latest topics for conversation in Kildare Street……

Jan 30, 2013

Charities Regulation Consultation

The Charities Act, 2009 when enacted included a specific ban on sporting organisations as entities to which charitable status could be granted. This is something the Federation of Irish Sport objected to at the time. However, most of the Act which amongst other things provided for the setting up of a Charities Regulator never came into force.

Life has recently been breathed into the legislation again with the Department for Justice & Equality opening a consultation process on plans to bring the Act into force.  Whilst the focus of the consultation centres on the establishment of the Regulator given the financial constraints the State is under, the Federation intends to raise the concerns of the sport sector at their specific exclusion from the Act as part of the process.

On announcing the consultation Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter said:

 “Charities play a vital role in our society and economy. We want to support them in this by putting in place a system of regulation that is proportionate, responsive, and sensitive to the needs and concerns of both charities themselves and the donor public.”

We have delayed bringing this legislation into force as we considered how  best to achieve the objectives of the Act in a context of Government  spending reductions. While this is clearly going to be challenging, it remains my view that there is both a need and widespread support for effective and affordable regulation of the charities sector. The Charities Act 2009 provides the framework for this. Working within this framework with flexibility and creativity, I am confident that we can support public trust and confidence in the charities sector, as well as assisting charities to achieve and maintain high standards of governance and accountability. Charities are the recipients of significant investment – from the donor public, from their volunteers and workers, and from the taxpayer through Government grants and contracts for services. It is in all our interests that this investment is safeguarded, managed effectively, and ultimately benefits the charitable purpose it is intended for. The statutory regulation of charities will support this.

So that we can achieve this goal in the current budgetary circumstances, I am proposing that charities will be asked to pay a modest and proportionate annual fee to contribute to the costs of maintaining the statutory Register of Charities which is one of the key provisions of the Charities Act. Some initial suggestions on how this might be implemented are contained in the consultation paper.

I encourage anyone with an interest in the charities sector to participate in this consultation and look forward in particular to the engagement of the charities sector, the donor public and other interested stakeholders.”

The consultation paper includes proposals and consultation questions on the establishment of a Charities Regulatory Authority and a statutory Register of Charities. It also includes proposals and consultation questions on the types of financial and activity reports that registered charities will berequired to provide to the Charities Regulatory Authority once it is established.

To read the consultation paper and to submit a response, go to http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/CharitiesConsult?OpenForm. The deadline for responses is 20 March 2013. During the consultation period, the Department of Justice and Equality plans to convene a stakeholder meeting on the proposals. Further information on arrangements for this meeting will be available in the coming weeks. It is envisaged that the responses to the consultation will be published in due course.

Sports Capital Programme

In late December, Minister Michael Ring, announced details of €5 million worth of national and regional projects which will receive funding under the Sports Capital Programme. This funding was additional to the €26 million in grants for 615 local projects announced earlier in the month. Full details of the projects supported by this latest round of capital funding can be viewed at the end of the page.

Parliamentary Questions

Most of the parliamentary questions on sport in January centred on the allocation of the sports capital grants. On the 22^nd January, however, Minister Varadkar outlined details of the Irish aspects of the EU EuroVelo project designed to develop cycle tourism across the EU.

Minister Vardakar confirmed that Ireland had been asked as part of the EuroVelo project to identify long distance routes that could contribute to cycling tourism in Europe. There was no commitment however to deliver the routes. Two such routes were identified in Ireland being the Atlantic Coast Route and the Capitals Route.

The Minister said that there was no plan to deliver either route in its entirety. However, funding had been allocated for an on-road route between Donegal & Netwoncunningham being part of the Atlantic Coastal Route whilst, the Great Western Greenway in May also had a very significant coastal element to it.

He also confirmed in relation to the Dublin-Galway route that recent funding initiatives have delivered sections of this route particularly along the canal. Minister Varadkar confirmed that the National Roads Aauthority is now undertaking detailed route alignment and design work for the route with a view to delivering the route as a cycling corridor in sections as funding allows.

Cycling is a significant driver of sports tourism in Ireland. A recently published report by Fáilte Ireland indicated that 178,000 international tourists took part in cycling during their stay in Ireland in 2011, while 6% of domestic holiday makers took part in cycling activities. Further information on the Fáilte Ireland report can be found through the link below:

(http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/WebsiteStructure/Documents/3_Research_Insights/3_General_SurveysReports/Tourism_Facts_2011_v2.pdf?ext=.pdf)