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Laois Sports Partnership Response . . . . . . . |
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Subsequent to the announcement in late July by the Department of Arts, Sport & Tourism of the allocations made under the Sports Capital Programme, under which clubs in Laois received €771,000, the Board of Laois Sports Partnership would like to make the following statement: The Board of Laois Sports Partnership warmly welcomes this allocation as all funding to promote participation in sport is of great benefit to the community. The Board would like to point out a few anomalies however that don’t at first appear evident. Of the 14 groups that received funding, 9 were GAA clubs, 2 were rugby and 1 soccer, boxing and athletics respectively. With the exception of athletics (which received €1,000 or 0.13% of the total) all of these are contact sports that people will participate in probably until their thirties, after which they stop. This over emphasis on youth participation was highlighted in an Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI) report in 2004 carried out on behalf of the Irish Sports Council, which stated that “the greatest public health gains are to be achieved by generating even modest activity levels among those who are completely inactive and.. more attention should be focussed on older people and women”. The grants allocated do not reflect this. Not 1 community initiative received any funding even though some very worthwhile applications were forwarded e.g. Abbeyleix Park and Portarlington Community Centre. As mentioned previously, the Board of Laois Sports Partnership welcomes all funding and does not wish in any way to take from the effort of those groups which received funding. The priorities for developing healthy communities however must be addressed to allow the opportunity for all to participate. With regard to the level of funding received in Laois (population 59,000), it is broadly on a par with the national figure of €13.50 per head of population. Offaly however, with a population of approximately 64,000 received €1.25m or €19.65 per head, 50% above the national average. This begs the question as to whether we are really getting value from our politicians who are supposedly covering the 2 counties of the constituency. The Board of Laois Sports Partnership are committed to the idea that funding decisions for local projects are best addressed through local cross community initiatives such as the Sports Partnership and would like to see an announcement made by the Government that the decision making power in this regard would be transferred in the near future. In the meantime the Board shall continue to press the case for a fairer and more balanced share of funding for Laois and particularly for those groups in the county who do not enjoy the same level of access to funds that other groups have.
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