Jan 22, 2019
The Federation were pleased to host representatives of the Department of Tourism, Transport and Sport at a sold out briefing session on the 22nd of January. The topic of the day was the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund which is making €100million available for large scale projects over the next 10 years. The fund is accepting applications from National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships between now and April 17th 2019.
The Federation was delighted to welcome a full house to the National Sports Campus Conference Centre for the briefing. Governing bodies, local sports partnerships and county councils all attended and had the opportunity to seek clarity around the application process and ask any burning questions of the department’s representatives.
Noel Sheehan outlined the reasons behind the establishment of the fund and its relationship to the Sports Capital Programme which has been a huge success at local and regional level.
The new fund was created in order to provide the same level of access and transparency around projects where the minimum Government investment would be €300,000 up to a maximum of €30 million on projects of up to €100 million.
Donal Hanigan then went through the specifics of the fund including details on the required ownership of the land and the ability for the government to place a charge on that land as part of the funding transaction.
Multi-sport use and collaboration were once more to the fore in terms of how each of the projects would be assessed and there was a strong sense that producing new facilities that would merely replicate existing ones would not be a favoured approach.
The objectives of the fund are aligned to those of the National Sports Policy. These include increasing active and social participation in sport and the quality of that participation as well as to improve high-performance levels and to increase access to sport for those with disability.
The amount of money on offer has been pitched at a minimum of €100 million over the coming years but as projects came forward that could yet rise in line with further commitments under the Ireland 2040 Capital investment programme.
There are two streams of funding, the first towards covering from design to tender and the second towards construction.
While Universities and third level colleges are not specifically included in the round, proposals which may incorporate them in partnership with National Governing Bodies and Local authorities will be considered.
For further information on the fund and application process please see here http://www.dttas.ie/sport/english/large-scale-sport-infrastructure-fund-lssif
Jan 17, 2019
The new look Sport Dispute Solutions Ireland was launched yesterday at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus by Minister of State Brendan Griffin in front of a strong turnout of sports administrators.
The new body replaces Just Sport Ireland which was set up in 2007 by the Federation of Irish Sport as a not for profit dispute resolution body for sport in Ireland.
Sport Dispute Solutions Ireland (SDSI) will operate in a similar manner under the Federation of Irish Sport
“The new body provides a range of service which offers the most effective and cost-efficient way of dealing with disputes in Irish sport once they have gone beyond the individual sporting bodies,” said Minister Griffin.
“It helps avoid sporting disputes appearing in the High Court which inevitably results in the loss of funds that otherwise would be used in the development of sport both at local and national level.”
“The new name provides greater clarity as to the services offered and what SDSI actually does,” added Federation of Irish Sport CEO Mary O’Connor.
“This is the first step in a campaign to ensure that everyone in sport in Ireland became more aware of exactly what is available in the event of a dispute escalating.”
“It is also our intention to have all NGB’s to build SDSI into their individual constitutions to ensure provision for the referral of disputes to SDSI should the need arise.”
“Like the Minister, the Federation is of the firm belief that sport is best kept out of the High Court. Not alone is SDSI more cost effective but it is a confidential service which helps to protect sport from unnecessary negative publicity and reputational damage.”
The Chairperson of the SDSI Board is Declan McPhillips who explained the need for the re-brand and strategic review, “As part of this Review the Board identified a concern as to a lack of awareness of the existence of JSI and perhaps a lack of understanding of the value of the process.”
“Sport Ireland fully supports and recommends the adoption of Sport Dispute Solutions Ireland, a service that is hugely valued by National Governing Bodies for Sport and sports organisations nationwide,” concluded Sport Ireland CEO John Treacy.
“While no one wants to see disputes arise, this service provided by the Federation of Irish Sport means that they have been settled in a timely and cost-effective manner, rather than entering into drawn out and costly litigation.”
“Having an alternative form of dispute resolution of funding is a requirement for the receipt of funding from Sport Ireland and we are pleased that the vast majority of funded bodies have signed up to Sport Dispute Solutions Ireland.”
Jan 7, 2019
The Ireland u16s Girls Volleyball Team created history at the European Championships Qualifying stage yesterday (Sunday Jan 6th). The girls in green beat Iceland to claim 5th place and become the first Irish Junior Volleyball team to win an International Match.
Led by the excellent Maria Jones Ireland cruised the first set winning 25-13, before Iceland hit back dominating the second (7-25) in super quick time. Ireland re-grouped and were driven by Grace Moloney who dominated play with neat passing and pinpoint volleys. The impressive setter Shannon Kehoe teed up some hard hitting spikes by Laura Connolly as Ireland took a nail biting third 25-23.
The 4th set ebbed and flowed before the Irish got over the line. The hugely improving Yousra Kebayli with some vicious jump serves creating havoc. Ireland claimed victory 25-18 to run out winners 3-1 and begin some wild celebrations as the first Irish Junior Volleyball Team to win at an International event.
Head Coach Gianni Massa commented, “I am very proud of all the girls, their dedication and commitment to this project has been inspiring and I am so happy for them to get their rewards. Coming here and competing is wonderful and to win a game is the icing on the cake.”
Captain from Ennis Volleyball Club Maria Jones added, “It was a great performance which we knew we had. We’ve improved so much playing against these teams and to win is brilliant.”
Ireland started the campaign with a defeat to Denmark 3-0 on Friday morning and a close loss to the Faroe Islands on Friday evening (3v1). They were outgunned 3-0 by Sweden on Saturday before their victory on Sunday.
The competition is the first event the squad have played in and a victory is remarkable considering their more experienced opponents. The squad will continue it’s development over the coming years.
The Irish team will return home to Dublin airport on Monday evening.
Dec 19, 2018
The Board of Cricket Ireland has endorsed the provision of Irish cricket’s first women’s senior playing contracts, after a recommendation was accepted at its recent Board Meeting held at Ballymascanlon House Hotel on 12 December 2018.
Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, said:
“We are delighted to become one of a very select number of sports in Ireland to offer professional contracts to women players. It has been an ambition of ours for a number of years, and we now find ourselves in the position to push ahead with this much-needed improvement to our sport.”
“The professionalism shown by our senior women’s team during preparation, qualification and performance at the recent ICC T20 World Cup was a demonstration that this side of our sport is ready to progress and grow.”
“We have been steadily increasing our investment and support for women’s cricket over recent years. This has included the appointment of a full-time national coach, providing for loss of earnings for players throughout the summer, increasing coaching staff and coach contact hours, increasing overseas player development opportunities, provision of a dedicated Academy programme for girls, and facilitating greater access to support services such as physio and medical, strength and conditioning, psychology and nutrition education. In addition, the creation of the Toyota Super 3’s Series in 2016 has provided that vital bridge between club and international cricket.”
“Like we did with the men’s side a number of years ago, we will now bring a measured approach to player contracts. A small number of part-time contracts will be offered in early 2019, with the plan to expand this programme over subsequent years.”
“Once again, we are grateful to Sport Ireland for their support in investing in this important development for Irish women’s cricket, enabling us to move into this exciting new period in our sport.”
The ICC recently announced that the next iteration of the ICC International Women’s Championship, post-2021, will expand from eight to ten teams. As Ireland is currently 10th in the world rankings, the Board realises the opportunity is within Irish cricket’s grasp to cement a place when qualification comes around.
Richard Holdsworth, Performance Director of Cricket Ireland, said:
“The International Women’s Championship is an international cricket tournament used to determine qualification for the Women’s Cricket World Cup, and – like Ireland’s inclusion in the men’s Future Tours Programme – would mean that our senior women’s team will be playing some of the world’s biggest teams more regularly.”
“As was noted by many observers at the recent T20 World Cup, the standard of Irish women’s cricket has increased significantly in recent times, but so has the standard of all of the world’s top teams. We need to introduce new measures like this to remain competitive against the world’s best and to push our game forward.”
“To prepare for our potential inclusion in the Women’s Championship, it will require further investment and improvements to be made in the women’s game – and a need to call on players’ availability more regularly. When relying on players who are juggling work and study commitments, availability for international games can quite often become a challenge. We believe that offering a small number of contracts, at least initially, will begin to ensure improved playing standards and better availability of our first-choice squad members.”
The Board also wholeheartedly endorsed the funding and development of a strategy for girl’s and women’s cricket in Ireland that will look at all aspects of the game, on and off the field of play. While the announcement of initial contracts precedes the strategy’s development, it is envisioned that the strategy will provide recommended guidelines for the scope and timing of expanding the contracts process.
“With a broad brief to look at all aspects of women’s and girls’ involvement in Irish cricket – including the need to benchmark with other cricket nations/sports, and to encompass targets set by Governments and ICC – the Board agreed that the engagement of an independent, experienced consultant to develop a framework for the future of this area of our sport was essential. We will be appointing the consultant early in the new year and will begin this important project immediately afterwards,” said Mr Holdsworth.
“We are entering a new phase in women’s sport in Ireland, and cricket is no different. Around the world we see an uplift of interest, participation and standards of women’s cricket and we are gradually putting in place a system to ensure that we not only continue to compete with the top teams, but advance the sport from grass roots to international.”
Cricket Ireland also confirmed that negotiations have progressed with other Full Member nations on international women’s fixtures in Ireland in the summer of 2019. These fixtures will be announced in January 2019 and will be part of another important year for the sport, as they will precede the global qualifying tournament for the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia in early 2020.
Dec 18, 2018
Ireland is to stage the first Round of the 2019 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, one of the major international events in the sport and a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The prestigious event will be held over the June Bank Holiday at Bettystown Beach on the County Meath coastline between Dublin and Drogheda.
The two days of competition will see players from across Europe arrive in Ireland, many of them for the first time in a sport which has only been on the Olympic schedule through London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.
Ireland is one of eight countries that will host pool matches with a likely four countries competing in both men’s and women’s events at each venue.
The others to have succeeded in the competition and which were announced in Luxembourg yesterday are Croatia, Cyprus, England, Georgia, Greece, Slovenia and Serbia.
Successful countries from this initial group stage will advance to a second phase in May 2020 and the Finals in June of that year.
“Bringing International events to Ireland is a key part of our strategy to grow, develop and promote the sport,” said Volleyball Ireland President Grainne Culliton.
“The profile of this event will help us inspire new players to the sport. We are incredibly excited to host such a prestigious event.”
The Tournament will align with the European Volleyball Schools Project programme, with Volleyball Ireland working with the Meath Sports Partnership to deliver Beach Volleyball in local schools ahead of the event.
“We want to use the profile of an Olympic Qualifier to get more people into Volleyball,” said Volleyball Ireland General Manager Gary Stewart.
“It’s a great opportunity to show the country what a great sport Volleyball is. It’s also a superb opportunity for potential partners to come on board and work with us on this event and our huge schools programme which reaches all corners of Ireland.”
Volleyball Ireland has a range of programmes for participants aged 5 years to 95 years old through its physical literacy initiatives for children to its Chair Volleyball campaign for older adults.
Bettystown Beach has played a key role in the Beach Volleyball Ireland National Tour in recent years, and Meath County Council has been a strong supporter in winning the right to host the Continental Cup Group stage.
The tournament will take place on June 1st and 2nd, one week before the Women’s Hockey Olympic Qualification tournament.
Dec 17, 2018
Sport is a huge part of volunteering in Ireland and Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Mr. Sean Canney, TD, has launched a Call for Input Paper on Volunteering.
This paper is the first step in developing a national volunteering strategy. It will inform stakeholders about the proposed development of a national volunteering strategy and seek their views on what constitutes volunteering and what this strategy should contain.
The Minister said: “One of my Department’s key objectives, as outlined in our Statement of Strategy 2017-2020, is the development of a national strategy on volunteering.”
Volunteers make an enormous contribution to Irish society, developing communities as vibrant, inclusive and sustainable places where people want to live. The very real economic, cultural and social benefits of volunteering permeate through an incredibly diverse range of activities.
The participation of a broad range of stakeholders is key to the development of this strategy. When the draft strategy is developed, a further opportunity will be offered, by means of a public consultation process, for any further views on the strategy before it is finalised.
If you would like to contribute your views on volunteering it would be a valuable boost to making sure that sport is well represented.
Download the consultation document here.
The closing date for submissions is Thursday 14 February 2019.
