Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
No Stormont a block to extra hockey cash
£1.35m boost in doubt after world final joy
MORE funding for Ireland’s women’s hockey team cannot be provided without ministers in place at Stormont, it has emerged.
The all-island squad defied the odds by reaching the world cup final in London, where they were beaten 6-0 by the Netherlands.
On Monday, Irish Sports Minister Shane Ross announced hockey would receive extra funding as part of a £1.35million investment.
At a homecoming party in Dublin, he said: “You have won that sort of [ financial] recognition.
“I have decided we will give €1.5million for Olympic and World Championship preparation and hockey will enjoy a significant share of that.”
However, Sport NI chief executive Antoinette Mckeown said it could not match the extra funding announced south of the border.
She added: “In the absence of a minister it is very, very difficult for us to
INSTAGRAM YESTERDAY
increase that amount because we will need ministerial approval for it but we are due to meet Ulster Hockey and Irish Hockey in the coming weeks.
“Any increases in funding that we’re receiving from the Department for Communities, our sponsor department, is along the lines of decisions already taken previously by ministers. That is the hard reality.
“However it doesn’t prevent Sport NI from continuing to put in the specialist services and support that we have been offering in terms of talent development, workforce development, club development.” Ms Mckeown said there has been a “decade of investment” from Sport NI, Ulster and Irish Hockey, which will continue.
She added: “But in terms of the types of investment that were made on Monday afternoon in Dublin, we cannot provide that in the absence of a minister here.”
Sport NI provides funding for dozens of sporting associations, including
YESTERDAY
boxing, GAA and athletics clubs. Ireland’s women’s hockey team is made up of amateur players and has always operated off limited funding, with the team have previously paying annual fees towards their own training programme.
The squad was the second lowest ranked of the 16 sides going into last week’s tournament, where they beat the USA, India and Spain on the way to reaching the final.
Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government since Stormont fell in January last year, resulting in much uncertainty regarding the authority of senior civil servants in making major decisions without ministers in place.
Sport Ireland’s total funding to Irish hockey, prior to Monday’s announcement, was around £820,000 for 2018.