Paul Murphy
A suggestion that Meath elite or high performance sports people should get aid through a special county council bursary met with a mixed reception at a meeting of the council. Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan put forward the idea at the September meeting and said the bursary could help with the financial burden of training and competing at local, national and international level. She said her suggestion was not aimed at professional athletes.
There were individuals who worked and studied alongside their commitment to sport, she said, and they do so out of passion and dedication. Meath had always had a proud sporting tradition across a range of sports. “Many of them have represented us with distinction, not only here at home but on the international stage. But behind the achievements lie huge personal and family sacrifices both in time and in money”.
The cllr said that many other local authorities across the country had recognised the challenges faced by athletes. By setting up a bursary the council would be sending out a string message that it valued the athletes, she added. Supporting Cllr Tolan’s motion, FG Cllr Maria Murphy said that not all families could afford the high costs of supporting young sports people.
Independent Cllr Nick Killian said that while he understood the thinking behind Cllr Tolan’s motion he advised the council to be careful in its consideration of the idea. A high level of sports people were already grant aided, he said. He suggested that the word “emerging” instead of “elite” should be inserted in the motion. He realised they had a very strong sports partnership in the county and perhaps they do not get enough funding for the work they do at ground level. It was the people at ground level who should.
Social Democrat Cllr Ronan Moore said he felt the motion was a good one in many respect but he would like to see more information such as who the bursary would be aimed at, the funding it. Cllr Tolan had said other councils were supporting athletes and she would like to know more about what they were doing.
Council Chief Executive Kieran Kehoe said that other local authorities did not support sporting bodies. He said he thought the funding of individuals by the council was not the way to go.
Independent Cllr Joe Bonner said he had some experience in dealing with elite and high performance athletes. However, he knew the difficulties some athletes had on a personal level.
Fine Gael Cllr Alan Tobin said that when championships were being held in Austria in August he knew one 23-year-old student who competed. There were expenses attached to that involvement.
Fine Gael Cllr Gerry O’Connor said that what they were discussing was a budgetary item and it could be discussed at budget time. He made the point that the council paid out grants to arts people. “We hand out arts grants every year and there are people who get them but don’t need them but they get them in their achievement in artistic endeavours so I don’t think we should get hung up on this. Defining what the cost is and putting it in the budget, isn’t as simple as that”.
There were also contributions from Independent Cllrs David Gilroy, Yvonne Everard. It was agreed to defer the motion to a strategic policy committee of the council for further discussion.
