Ireland to allocate an extra €1.5m for sports funding to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics

Earlier in the day (August 8^th), Shane Ross, Irelands Minister for Transport Shane Ross went on to reveal that the €1.5m extra in sports funding which was announced yesterday is the outcome of a €12m dividend that was paid to the State paid by the Irish Aviation Authority during the earlier stages of this year.

Minister Shane made this announcement at the celebrations held for the success achieved by the Irish women’s Hockey team who secured a silver medal at the World Championships held in London.

Additionally, In his statement, Mr Ross also went on to reveal that in the previous week he and Irelands Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe had reached an agreement stating that €6m of the funds will be at the discretion of Mr. Ross’s department.

Ross also went on to state that details regarding the distribution of the €1.5m would be announced by him possibly by Monday( August 13^th), provided the board of Sports Ireland has considered and given its approval for the allocations.

The statement further revealed that the money would be utilized by the beneficiaries in 2018.

Speaking in favour of all sports activities, Minister Ross said that he realises that there is an urgent need of funds for carrying out sports preparing for the World Championship finals and the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

Mr. Ross claims that Sports Ireland is well aware that some specific sports, that includes hockey, are in dire need of additional funding.

Irelands Minister for Transport concluded his statement by saying that he hopes that all the received funding would go towards direct athlete support, Tokyo camps and preparations, competition support, new equipment’s and High-Performance programmes support.