Speech

Address by John O'Donoghue, T.D.,
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism,
at the launch of the Irish Institute of Sport
in the Government Press Centre, Merrion St., Dublin 2

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be here this morning to announce the establishment of the Irish Institute of Sport and the appointment of Sean Kelly as its first Executive Chairman and I am grateful to the Taoiseach for his support in this initiative which makes a very clear statement of the Government's commitment to a targeted programme of investment in building up our national sporting infrastructure. A key objective of Government spending on sport over recent years has been to build up the support platform for our elite athletes. Today, with the launch of the Irish Institute of Sport, we can now say to our elite sports men and women 'here is the evidence of our determination to provide you with state of the art facilities as you pursue excellence in your various disciplines'

All of us want to see you competing effectively and successfully at the highest levels of sport. The Institute with its performance driven ethos will take us ever closer to the attainment of this goal.

The Institute will very quickly establish its position as a central element of our elite sports infrastructure, but we must not build up unrealistic expectations around it. We have still to play catch up to get us to the point enjoyed by many of our competitors on the world sporting stage. The process of gearing-up begins immediately and we hope to see it reflected in the quality of our preparations for Beijing 2008 Olympics and Paralympics. London 2012 is very much in our sights but even here there can be no room for complacency as the competition is already out of the starting blocks.

The concept of an Irish Institute of Sport is not a new one; it was advocated in the Irish Sports Council's High Performance Strategy of 2001, the Athens Review of 2005 and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts Sport and Tourism Report "Ireland and the Olympics: From Athens to London" also published last year. There has been much discussion and analysis around the concepts involved. This will continue but the time for action has now arrived.

The Athens Review defined the role of the Institute as being "to deliver optimal support services for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and sports, and to form the basis of a long-term and sustainable high performance infrastructure."

In August 2005, the Irish Sports Council established both a Technical Panel and Advisory Panel, drawing on world experts in sports science and medicine and institute model development, with the purpose of developing an Institute proposal appropriate to Irish circumstances. The focus was on developing and supporting Ireland's best athletes at junior, developmental and senior level.

Earlier this year, the Irish Sports Council endorsed the Report of the Advisory Group and passed the proposal to me for approval. It is an excellent document which sets out in clear and realistic terms what can be achieved in an Irish setting.

Let me at this point express my gratitude and that of the Government to the members of the Advisory Group and the Technical Group, under the direction of the distinguished public servant Dan Flinter, for their various and outstanding contributions to the Report.

I am also delighted to welcome Mr. Sean Kelly, former President of the Gaelic Athletic Association, who has been appointed as the first Executive Chairman of the new Institute. He will begin work immediately in delivering on the recommendations of the Report of the Advisory Group and his first key task in this regard will be to oversee the appointment of four senior specialist managers in the key Institute disciplines.

Ultimately the Irish Institute of Sport will be headquartered in Abbotstown where the Government will build a Sports Campus. Abbotstown will provide a highly appropriate base for the Institute as the completion of the sports campus will dovetail perfectly with the views expressed by both athletes and national Governing Bodies of Sport when they were asked to outline what the Institute should offer in the way of facilities.

The Institute will address such issues as strength and conditioning, psychology, performance analysis, sports medicine & sports injury management, recruitment of elite coaches and athlete lifestyle support.

In the lead up to Beijing the Institute will focus its support on 14 focus sports and approximately 90 Olympic and Paralympic athletes who are currently graded as either Contracted World Class or International Class under the Irish Sports Council's International Carding Scheme.

The Institute will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Irish Sports Council. It will build on the significant progress made in high performance sport by the Council since 1999. Increased and targeted investment, performance planning, the appointment of performance directors, the complete implementation of the Sydney Review and, today, the establishment of the Irish Institute of Sport, demonstrate just how pro-active the Irish Sports Council has been in developing an appropriate support framework for high performance sport. Ossie Kilkenny, Chair of the Sports Council, has provided energetic and visionary leadership to make this happen. My thanks to Ossie, to his Board members and, in particular, to John Treacy, Chief Executive of the Sports Council for his commitment to this initiative.

The Government-approved proposals for the restructuring of the support structures of Irish elite sport will also see the National Coaching and Training Centre, based at the University of Limerick, reconstituted as a new entity called Coaching Ireland which, like the Institute will be a subsidiary of the Irish Sports Council with a specific remit focussing on coach development and education. Quality coaching is central to the development of sport at every level. The agency and the facilities based at the University of Limerick will have a key role in the preparation of elite sportsmen and women as indeed will the other third level universities and colleges who are making increasingly significant contributions to the achievement of sporting excellence.

In 2006 the Government provided the Irish Sports Council with an additional €1 million to begin the process of establishing the Institute of Sport. There are three phases of operation, short term to Beijing, medium term to London and long term beyond 2012.

This investment will be increased to €3.5 million in the first full year of operation, 2007. This is just one component of the substantial investment by this Government in sport. In 2006 the Government's investment in sport amounts to €243 million, a figure without parallel in the history of Irish sport and largely directed at ensuring that opportunities for participation in sport exist for all communities in every part of Ireland.

There has been significant investment in the building up of a national sporting infrastructure with the construction of national and regional training and competition centres, for example the National Hockey Stadium, the National Tennis Centre, the National Rowing Centre, the National Aquatic Centre and a range of high quality athletic facilities.

Overall this represents a commitment to and comprehensive support for Irish High Performance Sport. The establishment of the Irish Institute of Sport is another critical piece of the jigsaw in terms of developing a support infrastructure for our elite athletes. I am confident that this will deliver results in the medium and long term.

Thank You.

(ENDS)