By John Considine
The first post to this website/blog, back in July 2013, presented a description of Irish Exchequer expenditure on sport for the period 2002-2011 (here). In the meantime, different elements of that expenditure have been examined. Forty months on from that first post, it is time to again look at overall Exchequer expenditure on sport. This time I will look at the period 2011-2015. These years happen to coincide with the period of the Fine Gael - Labour coalition government and, therefore, can be used to assess the priority attributed to sport by that government.
For the period 2011-15 approximately 7% of all gross Exchequer expenditure was capital expenditure and the remaining 93% was for non-capital expenditure (also called current expenditure). Transfer payments and Wages/Salaries making up the majority of this expenditure. Sport is different. Approximately 43% of expenditure on sport for the period was capital expenditure. Therefore, when we compare expenditure on sport for the period with that of overall Exchequer expenditure, it is better to separate capital and non-capital expenditure. The next two pictures show the change over 2011 for capital expenditure and non-capital expenditure.
When it comes to capital expenditure, changes in sport are not dissimilar to overall expenditure for 2012 and 2013. However, there is a dramatic increase in sports capital expenditure in 2014. Sports capital expenditure increases from 80% of its 2011 level to over 140%. The restoration of the sports capital grants to clubs accounts for much of the change. The rest of the change arises from a capital allocation to Sport Ireland (previously known as the Irish Sports Council).
For the period 2011-15 approximately 7% of all gross Exchequer expenditure was capital expenditure and the remaining 93% was for non-capital expenditure (also called current expenditure). Transfer payments and Wages/Salaries making up the majority of this expenditure. Sport is different. Approximately 43% of expenditure on sport for the period was capital expenditure. Therefore, when we compare expenditure on sport for the period with that of overall Exchequer expenditure, it is better to separate capital and non-capital expenditure. The next two pictures show the change over 2011 for capital expenditure and non-capital expenditure.
When it comes to capital expenditure, changes in sport are not dissimilar to overall expenditure for 2012 and 2013. However, there is a dramatic increase in sports capital expenditure in 2014. Sports capital expenditure increases from 80% of its 2011 level to over 140%. The restoration of the sports capital grants to clubs accounts for much of the change. The rest of the change arises from a capital allocation to Sport Ireland (previously known as the Irish Sports Council).
The changes in non-capital expenditure are far less dramatic as can be seen by the scale on the left-hand side of the graph below (compared to the scale on the graph above). It is fair to say that non-capital sports expenditure follows overall non-capital expenditure pretty closely. The 2015 change of about 2% arises from money being spent on measures funded by dormant bank accounts.
For the period 2011-2015 the vast majority of sports expenditure went on two items, namely, Sport Ireland and Grants to Sporting Bodies. Over 85% goes to these two items of expenditure. The pie-chart below illustrates the situation.
It would seem that sport capital expenditure was important for the Fine Gael - Labour coalition. Not a bad thing for sports people. However, some of the sports capital allocations at the end of the regime seemed less than ideal (here).
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