Aug 3, 2018
What an incredible evening it was as Ireland secured a place in the Women’s Hockey World Cup after a shoot out win over India in London.
Everyone at the Federation and across the whole of Irish sport offers heartfelt congratulations to Graham Shaw’s side, to captain Katie Mullen, goal scorer Chloe Watkins and especially goalkeeper Ayeisha McFarren whose three saves when it mattered most made all the difference.
Ireland now face Spain in the semi-final, an incredible achievement for a team ranked 16th in the world going into the tournament and now carrying the hopes of a nation.
Good luck to the girls in green. The semi Final takes place on Saturday afternoon with the World Cup Final, should we dare to dream, on Sunday afternoon.
Aug 2, 2018
The World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships have been officially launched at Government Buildings with An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar playing host to Irish Para Athletes, Ailbhe Kelly and Patrick Flanagan.
Councillor Nial Ring, Lord Mayor of Dublin was also in attendance along with representatives of championship sponsors, Allianz Ireland and host partners; Sport Ireland, Swim Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and Paralympics Ireland.
“Hosting this event is a great honour for our country and we can’t wait to welcome some incredible para athletes from right across the continent to Dublin,” said An Taoiseach.
“Bringing this event to Dublin has been a major undertaking and I would like to compliment the Local Organising Committee, the Host Partners and sponsors for their efforts to bring this event together.”
“It will be a proud moment as our athletes, including Patrick Flanagan and Ailbhe Kelly, get to compete in front of our legendary Irish sporting fans. I’m really looking forward to the event and I would like to wish Team Ireland the very best of luck throughout the week.”
This will be the first ever major para sporting event to be held in Ireland.
The Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre will be the Centre of attention from Monday August 13th through to Sunday 19th.
An 8 person Irish Team of Ailbhe Kelly, Patrick Flanagan, Ellen Keane, Jonathan McGrath, Sean O’Riordan, Nicole Turner, James Scully and Barry McClements will be hoping to raise the excitement level of the crowd.
They will be among more than 400 athletes from 37 countries taking part in 476 individual races in 167 events.
There are 4 host partners to Dublin 2018 who were all represented at the official launch including Emma Jane Clarke from Sport Ireland, Sarah Keane and Maggie Purcell from Swim Ireland, Paul Kelly of Fáilte Ireland along with John Fulham and Miriam Malone from Paralympics Ireland.
“It was a great honour to be invited to Government Buildings to officially launch the Championships,” said Malone.
“Having the support of Taoiseach Varadkar and of the Department of Transport Tourism and Sport has been a major factor in bringing this event to Dublin and we now look forward to getting the action underway in the National Aquatic Centre on Monday week.”
Jul 27, 2018
Congratulations to the Irish Women’s Hockey team who have qualified with a game to spare for the Quarter Finals of the Women’s World Cup in London.
Wins over the USA and India, whose combined population is over 2 billion, have propelled the team into the last eight regardless of the result on Sunday against England.
That match has been a complete sell-out since March and will be played in front of 10,000 in the London Olympic Park.
Good luck to the team who have excelled so far and will be the focus of Irish sporting attention for the next few days and who knows for how long…
Keep up to date with the tournament at the event website here
Image credit: Inpho Photography
Jul 26, 2018
Following the publication of the new National Sports Strategy, the Federation held its Annual General Meeting at Sport HQ.
There was a strong turn out of members to review the year gone by and also to talk of the future now that the National Policy on Sport has been published.
The Activities Report that was published highlighted the many activities that took place through the year from the Breakast Briefings and submissions to Government through to social events, Workshops on GDPR, Data and Governance the Irish Sport Industry Awards in Association with JLT Ireland in March and the Annual Conference in May.
It welcomed our two new partner sin Clann Credo and Teamer and gave a review of the different services available to members from information and representation through to our recent Membership Survey, which will be published soon the Just Sport Ireland arbitration service and more.
Leo Gibson from Rowing Ireland was elected to become a member of the Federation Board.
Copies of the Report were issued to those in attendance on the day but if you would like a copy in pdf format simply email us and we will get it to you.
Jul 25, 2018
The Federation of Irish Sport is delighted to welcome the publication of Ireland’s first National Sports Policy which sets out the Government’s roadmap for the development of Irish sport over the next ten years from 2018 to 2027. We are pleased that the Policy enshrines the key role that our members, the National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships, will play in the delivery of the aims and objectives set out in the Policy.
We are also pleased that the Government has recognised in the Policy the significant contribution sport makes to Ireland. The Policy outlines the importance of sport not just for the enjoyment received by those who play for fun, or the pride generated from Irish athletes who perform on the world stage, but as a cornerstone of future public health, community development, the contribution to the economy as well as education and lifelong learning.
The Federation of Irish Sport commends the ambition detailed in the Policy to elevate Irish Sport the top table globally, in terms of both participation and high performance and the commitment to pursue this objective relentlessly. We particularly welcome the Government’s stated intention to provide the necessary funding to deliver on the objectives set out in the Policy. This includes the stated intention to double funding to €220 million over the life of the Policy as well as introduce multi-annual funding for both participation and high performance.
The Federation acknowledges the extent of the task ahead with 57 different actions identified in the Policy across 8 different action areas including participation, facilities, high performance, capacity building, the National Sports Campus, the interaction of sport with other government and international organisations, integrity of sport and the financing of Irish Sport.
In this regard, the commitment to on-going measurement and evaluation for all investment in sport as outlined in the Policy is also to be welcomed. In particular, the Federation is pleased with the establishment of a Sports Leadership Group charged with developing an action plan for the implementation of the Policy as well as on-going monitoring and review.
The Federation looks forward to representing our members on the Sports Leadership Group and look forward to working with the Government, Sport Ireland and others involved in Irish Sport to deliver on the actions enshrined in the Policy. The publication of the National Sport Policy is an important first step in ensuring that the true potential of sport is maximised for Ireland.
Jul 25, 2018
The Government has published its National Policy on Sport which sets a blueprint for what we can aspire to, what we can expect and what we can focus on as those responsible for delivering sport in its many forms over the next decade.
It is a long and detailed paper, running to 57 individual action points and 108 pages, reflecting the time that has gone into its creation and the complexity of dealing with a broad canvas with impact points at every life stage and area of how we live as a society.
The reaction from across the sporting sector, both public and private has been positive and the Federation of Irish Sport has given it a warm welcome.
The lead financial commitment is that Government will raise spending on sport from a current level of €110 million to double that at €220 million by 2028.
There is a commitment to an annual fund for capital projects which currently represents around 40 per cent of total spending in the sector.
As part of the plan, the long called for multi-annual funding will be delivered, from 2019 onwards based on four-year cycles and reviewed at each cycle.
There is an undertaking to raise funding of high-performance sport to the level of comparator nations, with New Zealand as a standard. This would effectively mean an increase to €30 Million of annual funding in that area, effectively a trebling of the investment that will be available in 2018.
There were more financial incentives delivered by Ministers Ross and Griffin yesterday as well.
A fresh €1.5 million of funding towards high-performance programmes aimed specifically at Tokyo 2020 will be delivered.
There will be a doubling of investment exclusively targetting Women in Sport.
There will also be a €1 million commitment to disability sport through the funding of a Sports inclusion disability officer in all Local Sports Partnerships, as opposed to some as is currently the case.
A Policy is not a budget though and it is there to inform the strategic initiatives that will lead to delivery of the ultimate goals.
We now know what those are, in three key areas.
Overall participation in sport is to rise from 43 per cent to 50 per cent of the population, an equivalent of 260,000 additional people taking part in sport.
More targetted high-performance funding to lift the number of medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games from the 13 achieved in Rio to a target of 20 at Los Angeles in 2028. This does mean that funding will be spent more in some sports than others and introduce a more merit and evidence basis to the distribution of the finite pot. This will please some, and leave others on the sideline but sport understands the nature of competition and the aim of winning.
The third key goal is that all funded sports bodies, and this rolls all the way through to clubs, will be in compliance with the Governance Code for the Community, Voluntary and Charity Sector.
Sport Leadership Group
The next key milestone is only three months away with the formation of the Sport Leadership Group from the sector and from Government.
That is to be created by October 25th and will report to Government by July 25th 2019. Its remit will be to develop and publish a comprehensive set of key performance indicators covering all elements of the policy Progress in implementing the policy will be assessed against these indicators.
