A decade after the Big Bang theory of the Bertie Bowl, the Irish Sports Council (ISC) officially moved into their new HQ in Abbotstown yesterday, a building more tastefully proportionate to the current economic climate than the bloated 1999 National Sports Campus.
The ISC are the anchor tenant, the Dunne’s Stores of the Irish sports shopping mall, with the theory being that if you put in the agency that funds sport, the rest will follow.
That is what the Government hopes for, although it simply doesn’t have the money to finish all of the projects without the sports also contributing euro muscle, whether that is teaming up with private enterprise or using other financial tools.
The state will donate the land and the seed capital and provide a “Matching Fund” of €500,000 but the major field sports, Gaelic games, rugby, soccer (already there over five years) and hockey sports must stump up the rest to develop their own part of the campus. They have all signed leases to develop the sites, but that’s meaningless if the funds are not there to follow.
Yesterday’s exercise, involving the Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, was largely a lot of ballyhoo, but with the FAI offices directly opposite those of the ISC and the 10-year-old Aquatic Centre in the distance, the campus is finally rising out of what is still largely ploughed fields and pasture.
The administration side of 19 national governing bodies have also moved into the new HQ which is forward momentum. But the Aquatic Centre has been eventfully open now since 2003 and the concern is that further completion of training facilities, including an indoor arena, will also move forward at a snail's pace.
No completion date
Varadkar had no completion date for the project but there was one crumb of comfort for sport in general, when he announced that its status might change. "We're trying very hard to secure charitable status for NGBs in the next budget," said the Minister.
That alone could have a significantly positive effect, although those organisations that are charities already may hold a different view. The 2009 Charitable Act excluded sport as a charitable object and there is currently no tax incentive to give money philanthropically to sports bodies.
Section 235 was a type of back door and was specific to building. Financial gifts could attract relief under certain circumstances with the building of Munster's home ground in Limerick, Thomond Park an example. Otherwise sport receives none of the reported €500 million given out philanthropically every year in Ireland.
The substantial sums of money Denis O'Brien gives to the FAI to subvent the salary of Republic of Ireland manager Giovani Trapattoni, the donations JP McManus regularly gives to charities through his fund-raising golf events and Limerick GAA, or the private donation given to the new Leinster Rugby facility in UCD's campus at Belfield would have no tax benefits attached. An adjustment in status at the next budget could change all of that and from a sports administrators point of view, it's for the better.
Used donations
Other countries use donations in this way. Collegiate sport in the USA is 25 per cent funded by philanthropic donations despite the fact that many of the teams, notably in college football, have university grounds as big as Aviva Stadium and state-of-the-art 50-metre swimming pools.
In Ireland it was pointed out that a demonstrable willingness has been shown to give to sport with the Irish men's hockey team benefitting from overwhelming public support last October. It was decided by the Irish Hockey Association that the team could not travel to Argentina for an international tournament because there was no money available following a long Olympic Games qualification program. The team drew €55,000 in donations in a matter of days.
A new system would allow for donors or receivers to avail of the tax breaks associated with such contributions.
For now much of the new-styled campus is aspirational, although very much alive with the Taoiseach hoping that the building of the indoor arena “will avail of an upswing in the economy”.
On that the small gathering in the sun outside the house of Irish sport were 100 per cent agreed.
