Ireland is failing to win medals at major international sporting events because the Government has concentrated on "super stadiums" and "professional spectator sports", a former minister for sport has said. Conor Lally reports.
Mr Bernard Allen (FG) told a hearing of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport and Tourism that there was too much political interference in sports funding in the State.
Funding allocation should be passed to the Irish Sports Council. "A strong independent Sports Council would deliver if it was allowed to deliver," Mr Allen said.
The FAI's failed proposal for the Eircom Park stadium had been "torpedoed because of interference". "Croke Park would also be open [ to other sports] now if it wasn't for interference," he said. "We're pretending to be, and aspiring to be, a world power in sport and we can't even get the basics right. [ The Government] is obsessed with super stadiums when we can't even build a dressing room for a club down the country." Mr Allen said more emphasis was needed on mass participation in sports, rather than on elite sport. The nation would be healthier and more elite athletes would "rise to the top".
When businessman JP McManus offered €50 million towards the construction of the Abbotstown sports campus, Dublin, the offer dominated debate on sports funding for two years, resulting in the FAI's plans for a stadium failing. "Eircom Park was effectively sabotaged, that's my opinion," Mr Allen said.
Mr McManus had made his offer with an agenda in mind, he said, and "that agenda was professional soccer". While major sports developments were being debated, sports facilities in schools had been neglected and the national governing bodies were dogged by in-fighting.
He agreed with the ISC's chief executive, Mr John Treacy, that Ireland would never return from an Olympic Games "with a bag of medals". Ireland was suffering from "Sky Sports syndrome". The UK channel could dictate the time of fixtures and the public participated by going to the pub to watch matches.
Committee member Mr Jim Glennon TD (FF) said the "show business end" of sport had drained amateur sport of its human and financial resources. Rugby was just one game which was "in very serious difficulty at club level". This could be attributed to the emphasis in recent years which had been placed in the development of the professional code.
The joint committee met to discuss the Irish performance at the Athens Olympics.