THE Olympic Federation of Ireland announced this week that a €200,000 discretionary fund for its member sports to support Olympic focussed projects is available.

The 2023 fund can be applied for under three headings, National Federation Olympic Development Support, Performance Coach Support and Make a Difference Support.

Funding of up to €20,000 per national federation will be available. The OFI will use the funding to leverage existing support or to provide solutions for sports where no current funding exists. Grant allocations will target projects which are sustainable and have clearly defined impacts in line with the OFI’s strategic plan.

Applications will be open from now until close of business on February 20th 2023. Grant awards will be announced before mid-March 2023.

Making the announcement OFI CEO Peter Sherrard said, “Discretionary funding for our members has proven to be particularly useful because it is targeted against very tangible outcomes to make a positive impact for athletes within sport performance programmes. Since the introduction of the scheme in 2018, the OFI has provided over €1 million in funding for National Federations directly and to athletes in line with our objectives to inspire Ireland and to put athletes first.”

Team Ireland Chef de Mission for Paris 2024, Gavin Noble added, “It is important to us that we make this funding available early in the year to maximise the impact it can have for European Games 2023, Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026. The quality of applications from Olympic sports for this type of funding in previous years has been very strong, and we look forward to making a difference for our athletes, coaches and performance directors through this additional support.”