Sport Ireland has today announced an increased spending package of €5.5m in Dormant Accounts Funding for a wide range of sport and physical activity areas, including Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Fund activities and Disability Sports measures. The funding will impact communities across Ireland through the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and their affiliated Clubs, as well as the extensive network of funded bodies and Local Sports Partnerships.

The investment builds on Sport Ireland’s work in this area to date and aims to expand and enhance the delivery of the Government’s ‘Sport for All’ initiatives along with Sport Ireland’s Diversity & Inclusion, Disability and Women in Sport Policies.

The 2022 Fund includes a number of new strands notably a Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Fund, A Disability Sports Club Fund and the introduction of NGB focused ‘Hubs’.

The Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Fund will support items like:

• Volleyball Ireland’s – VolleyALL programme which will help Ukrainian refugees to integrate into communities through sport.
• Athletics Ireland - Diversity Games initiative, which will seek to deliver an outdoor Diversity Games Day for primary school pupils of all ethnic backgrounds from 3rd to 6th class.

The Disability Club Fund of €2.2m will see in excess of 1,000 Grassroots Clubs receive support at a local level. The Aspire Graduate Employment Programme will provide €400,000 to give 15 graduates the opportunity to develop a career in sport.

Speaking about the new round of Dormant Accounts Funding, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, said:

“This €5.5m. programme of measures will help to promote Diversity, Inclusion & Equality in sport. Accessibility, availability, and opportunity are key parts of our investment approach for Dormant Accounts Funding, and this investment package showcases the importance of increasing activity levels for people in Ireland.”

The Investment seeks to advance the Government’s National Sports Policy 2018-2027 with a focus on the areas of participation and inclusion. Proposals that actively contribute towards sports and communities disproportionately impacted by COVID 19 are also a high priority.

The Minister added:

“I am delighted to announce the continued investment of Dormant Accounts Funding to promote participation initiatives aimed at disadvantaged communities. Earlier this year, we launched a new Sport For All Disability Supports Club Fund to assist sports clubs in making their facilities more accessible for people with disabilities. The €2.2m. fund available for this new scheme is going to make a real difference for over 1,000 clubs across the country.”

The Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education, Thomas Byrne T.D., also expressed his particular appreciation of the emphasis in the investment package on people with a disability. He said

“The importance of sport for people with a disability, whether physical or intellectual, can never be understated and should be front and centre of our approach to investment in sport generally. I look forward to working closely with the various representative groups to further advance the sporting interests of people with a disability and I know that Dormant Accounts funding is hugely important in this regard”.

Chief Executive of Sport Ireland, Dr. Úna May, commented:

“This Dormant Accounts Funding has enabled Sport Ireland to further support the sports sector through our National Governing Bodies, funded bodies and our network of Local Sports Partnerships to deliver opportunities for everyone to participate. I am pleased to see such a wide-ranging programme which aims to remove the barriers for getting involved in sport.”