THE IRISH SPORTS COUNCIL today announced they will be investing nearly €25 million in Irish sport in 2014.
€11 million will be made available to National Governing Bodies such as Cricket Ireland and Horse Sport Ireland with a further €5 million available for Local Sports Partnerships around the country.
The remaining €8.7 million has been set aside for High Performance Sports such as boxing, athletics and sailing.
Special Olympics Ireland remain the biggest recipients of Sports Council investment with their core funding increasing from €1.2 million in 2013 to €1.4 this year to assist with the Special Olympic Ireland Games taking place in Limerick in June.
At the other end of the scale, the Horseshoe Pitchers Association of Ireland were awarded just €3,705 for 2014.
While the Irish Amateur Boxing Association saw their core funding drop from €372,000 to €366,000, investment in their High Performance section increased by just over 2% to €830,000.
Sailing will receive the third highest level of funding with €600,000 being made available to help the Irish Sailing Association’s High Performance group attempt to improve on their successes in 2013. Last year, Irish sailors won 12 medals at international events, eight of which were gold .
The National Network of Local Sports Partnerships will receive €5 million to support their work in promoting participating in sport and physical activity.
In 2013, over 200,000 people took part in local participation programmes while mass participation events such the An Post Cycle Series and Operation Transformation national walks and fun runs attracted over 35,000 participants.
