ADULT PARTICIPATION IN SPORT CONTINUES TO RISE ACCORDING TO LATEST IRISH SPORTS MONITOR REPORT


The Irish Sports Council today published the fifth Irish Sports Monitor report, this one for the first six months of 2013. The report, written by Ipsos MRBI on behalf of the Council, measures adult participation in sport and physical activity and compares it with previously published information.

KEY FINDINGS
• Increase in sporting participation from 45% in 2011 to 47% in the first half of 2013

• Personal exercise remains the most popular sporting activity, with running seeing a notable increase in participation (from 6% to 9%) particularly among younger females who appear to be graduating from recreational walking to running as a key means of exercise
• Recreational walking remains the most popular activity, with 65% having participated in this in the previous seven days
• Individual sporting activities such as exercise, swimming, running and cycling continue to dominate adult sporting participation
• 32% of adults are meeting the National Physical Activity Guidelines up from 30% in 2011 while the proportion that are sedentary has declined from 13% to 12%
• Initial results suggest slight declines in volunteering, club membership and attendance at events

The report was officially launched by Minister of State for Tourism & Sport Michael Ring. Speaking at the launch in Mayo he said: "The growing participation in sport is great news, especially for all the people and organisations who work hard to get more people involved. The report shows that Government investment in sport is boosting sporting activity, and hopefully producing a healthier society".

To view the full report please click here www.mayosports.ie/media/Media,23020,en.pdf

John Treacy, Chief Executive of the Irish Sports Council: "I am delighted that sport is continuing to play a key role in contributing to keeping the nation active. From the perspective of public health it is great to see an increase in the numbers of adults meeting the National Physical Activity Guidelines and a decline in the numbers of sedentary adults. These changes are in no small part a testimony to the work of the many sporting organisations including LSPs who continue to direct and focus their efforts towards inactive groups. The challenge now is to maintain the good work and keep Ireland active"

The Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) is a survey of participation in sport and physical exercise in Ireland, which began in 2007 and continued throughout 2008, 2009 and 2011. There was a gap in 2010 when there was a competitive process to agree the provider of the ISM to the Council. Based on regular interviews with adults aged 16 and over, the ISM is primarily designed to track levels of participation in sport and recreational exercise, both for the population as a whole and various subpopulations of interest. To achieve sufficient accuracy, it employs large annual samples: 5,001 for the first half of 2013 and 4,166 for the same period in 2011.

MINISTER RING LAUNCHES SPEAK REPORT ON LOCAL SPORTS PARTNERSHIPS FOR 2012

· 57% of funding of Local Sport Partnerships raised locally

More than 250,000 people participated in locally delivered sports programmes
Over 400,000 children given access to the Buntús Programme since 2002
LSPS provided responses to 157,000 specific requests for information on sport

October 25, 2013.

The impact of the national network of Local Sports Partnerships in 2012 in creating a local infrastructure for sport was detailed in a new report launched today (October 25). The 31 Sports Partnerships are having a positive impact on hundreds of thousands of people through the delivery of direct programmes and support to local sports organisations.
In 2012, 255,225 people participated in 838 sports programmes delivered locally by the Sports Partnerships. This number includes 64,576 people who took part in the 256 programmes which were delivered for the first time in 2012.

To view the full report please click here http://www.mayosports.ie/media/Media,23019,en.pdf

An additional responsibility of the Sports Partnerships is the delivery for the Buntús range of sport programmes which introduce children to sport. Since the initiative started in 2002 more than 400,000 children have been provided access to Buntús which aims to give every child a quality introduction to a sport that is suitable for all abilities. In 2012, 93 schools received training in Buntús and 300 childcare centres received Buntús Start training.

SPEAK 2012, the sixth annual evaluation of the national network of Local Sports Partnerships, was launched in Westport, Co Mayo by the Minister of State for Sport Mr. Michael Ring T.D. He was joined by Counsellor Henry Kenny, the Chairman of Mayo Sports Partnership and John Treacy, CEO of the Irish Sports Council. Also, in attendance were trainees from the Community Sports Leaders programme operated by Mayo Sports Partnership which is giving local unemployed people an opportunity to become trained as sports coaches and leaders.
Minister Ring stated: "The continued success of the Local Sports Partnerships is evident with over a quarter of a million people participating in over eight hundred locally delivered programmes in 2012. I would like to thank all of those in the Local Sports Partnerships and sports organisations and would continue to encourage people to become involved in sport events in their local areas so that they can enjoy the health and social benefits that come from sport and physical activity."

The Sports Partnerships were created by the Irish Sports Council in 2000 to provide opportunities in sport for target groups which face barriers to sport.
Funding from the Irish Sports Council accounts for 43% of the total LSP funding in 2012, the remaining 57% is raised from other sources this meets the recommendation from the Fitzpatrick Report of 2005. Almost €13m was invested in the network in 2012 including Monetary Funding leveraged locally of €3,420,397 and Benefit-in-kind (BIK) of €3,957,880. Irish Sports Council funding to the LSP network reduced by over €75,000 or 1.3% from €5.68m in 2011 to €5.61m in 2012 reflecting the reduction of €2.3m in the Council's own budget.

John Treacy, Chief Executive of the Irish Sports Council attended at the launch and commented; The Partnership Network continues to be an essential element of the sports infrastructure in Ireland. Their focus is on increasing participation and the SPEAK Report demonstrates their success in activating communities and, within a formal evaluation context, confirms all the positive feedback we receive about their work in every county in Ireland".