| Why Irish Sport Matters |
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Follow the link to www.irishsportmatters.com
1. Participation in Sport Improves Public Health | ||
| • | 1.9 million deaths globally each year are attributable to physical inactivity | |
| • | Reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis | |
| • | UK research has found that physical inactivity costs them up to 11% of the Health Budget | |
There is little doubt that Irish Sport has made significant progress in the last 10 years – progress that would not have been possible without government support. However, we do believe that the relationship is not all one way and that sport returns multiple dividends to Ireland through the economic, health, social and other benefits.2. Sport Contributes to the Economy
| • | Estimated that sport contributes at least a 12 fold return on State investment | |
| • | Sport contributes approximately 1.7% of Ireland’s GDP | |
| • | 1,500 jobs created by the National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Sports Partnerships | |
3. Sport Builds Communities
| • | 15% of adults volunteered in sport in the last 12 months which is the equivalent of 400,000 adults | |
| • | 32% of the adult population are members of at least one sports club | |
| • | 59% of players socialise regularly with fellow participants as do 53% of volunteers | |
| • | Sport is at the heart of our sense of community | |
4. Sport Establishes Pride in Ireland at Home and Aboard
| • | 46% of the population have attended at least one event in the last year | |
| • | 808,000 people watched the 2009 All Ireland Football Final on RTE with 771,000 watching the Hurling Final | |
| • | Over 40 million overseas viewers watched Ireland in the Six Nations 2009 | |
5. Sport Drives Tourism
| • | 420,000 people visited the Race Village during the Galway Stopover over a two week period | |
| • | 62.8 million TV viewers globally watched Rally Ireland in 2007 | |
| • | The 2009 Tour of Ireland cycle race was broadcast to a global audience of 20 million by 220 broadcasters in 180 countries | |
6. Sport Makes Us Feel Good
| • | Sport is a consistent bright spot in a difficult year | ||
| • | Imagine 2009 without: | ||
| - | GAA’s 125 years celebrations | ||
| - | Grand Slam Success | ||
| - | Bernard Dunne | ||
| - | Leinster and the Heineken Cup | ||
| - | Shane Lowry and the 3 Irish Open | ||
| - | The Irish Lions | ||
| - | Olive Loughnane, Derval O’Rourke and David Gillick at the World Athletics Championships | ||
| - | Katie Taylor and another European Boxing Championship | ||
| - | John Joe Nevin and World Bronze Medal | ||
| - | Kilkenny’s 4th Hurling Championship in a row | ||
Think of a world without Irish sporting success.
We feel that it would be shortsighted to further reduce the funding to sport given the 33% reduction already suffered since 2008 particularly, in light of sport’s proven ability to deliver a significant return on investment across multiple fronts as highlighted in the submission document. We would therefore ask that you consider the submission carefully and remain cognisant to the potential damage that could be done in terms of reducing access to sport for all our citizens not to mention impacting on the development of our future international athletes.