Sport Ireland will receive an additional €6 million in funding to build on Team Ireland’s success at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including more than €1 million in extra funds for high-performance programmes.
Sport and recreation received €230.68 million as part of Budget 2025, representing a 10 per cent increase on last year, €115.16 million of which will go to Sport Ireland.
Outlining the breakdown of the figures on Wednesday, Minister of State with responsibility for Sport Thomas Byrne paid tribute to Team Ireland’s “truly inspirational” performances in Paris, adding that the increased funding will seek to “make Ireland a participation nation”.
Mr Byrne said the funding would be used to enhance the national high-performance programme, drive participation across all levels, and fund capital sporting projects around the country.
Core funding for national governing bodies and local sports partnerships will increase by €1.3 million to €30 million for 2025 to support their work in “increasing participation levels for all and in developing our athletes”, while a dedicated €1 million “disability in sport” funding system will also be set up.
The annual capital allocation for the Community Sport Facilities Fund will also more than double for next year, increasing from €34.5 million to €73.4 million.
Delivering his budget speech in the Dáil on Tuesday, Minister for Finance Jack Chambers confirmed changes would be made to tax exemptions for sporting bodies. He added that measures would also be brought forward to alter how donations to sports bodies were treated for income tax purposes.
“It is my intention that both PAYE and self-assessed donors will be able to choose for the income tax relief on donations under the relevant tax provisions to go either to themselves or to the sporting body itself,” Mr Chambers said, adding the measures would provide “an additional incentive for taxpayers to provide direct support to their local and national clubs and bodies”.
Mr Byrne welcomed the remarks and said taxation would be a “key element in supporting our national sporting bodies”, adding that department officials would now engage with sporting bodies on how the measures could be best implemented.
He congratulated the sporting sector en masse for working with his department to achieve “a landmark budget for Irish sport”.
“There’s no doubt we will reap the rewards as a society when it comes to our physical and mental wellbeing with this extra spending,” said Mr Byrne.
