Irish FA secures £3million from Department of Education

EDUCATION Minister, Caitríona Ruane, has announced that she will provide a further £3 million to the Irish FA to continue the hugely successful Primary Schools Curriculum Coaching Programme. 

The funding for the next four years will see the Irish FA continue to employ 30 full-time specialist coaches delivering and supporting physical education programmes and teachers in over 270 schools per year. 

A total of £6 million has been made available to both the Irish FA and GAA - making the announcement, the Minister said: “I introduced the Primary Sports Programme in 2007 to help improve the health and wellbeing of our children and encourage them to embrace a healthy lifestyle from a young age.  Getting involved with sport is an excellent way of achieving this. Both Gaelic games and soccer offer many opportunities for young girls and boys to have fun and keep healthy. Not only does such activity tackle and prevent obesity, but it also helps children focus and learn better during class time.

“I believe this is a vital aspect of growing up which is why my Department has to date made available around £5.2 million for the programme. The new funding of £1.5million per year will ensure that the IFA and GAA can continue this excellent work for four more years, ensuring that even more local children can improve their fundamental skills and keep active.

“The 32 GAA and 30 IFA coaches have made a huge contribution to the success of the programme and I pay tribute to them for their enthusiasm and commitment. The coaches have developed a range of fun and engaging mini-games based on their sports which capture the attention of children and embed in them a habit of playing sport, which can only help them as they grow up.”

Irish FA Head of Grassroots Football, Lee Carroll said: “This is fantastic news not only for the Irish FA but for the 15,000 children and 300 teachers that benefit from the Irish FA’s programme every week.  We have a very dedicated group of specialist coaches who are doing a great job exposing young primary school children to a variety of innovative physical education lessons and helping develop many of the movement skills that will help them in their sporting lives long into the future.” 

Click here to Primary Coaching Programme 2009

Click here to view Primary School Report 2009/10