Getting Out What You Put In: An Evaluation of Public Investment in Irish Sport

Achieving value for money in public expenditure is a key issue, whatever the state of the economic cycle. Its importance is even more marked in the present situation. In order to attain this, we must have a clear idea of the objectives of particular expenditure programmes, and of the extent to which the expenditures contribute to these objectives. This is the approach taken by Pete Lunn (ESRI) in assessing the economic returns to public investment in sport, which have increased very substantially over the past decade. The stated aims of Irish sports policy emphasise improvements in health and quality of life. There is, indeed, considerable empirical support for the view that there are significant health and social benefits to be had from participation in sport. However, the analysis challenges the way current policy addresses three trade-offs in the allocation of resources: the balance between 'elite' and 'grassroots' sport; the trade-off between investment in sporting facilities (physical capital) and participation programmes (human and social capital); and the allocation of public money across the range of different sporting activities. In each case, the evidence base suggests that the aims of policy could be better served by a reallocation of sports investment which takes recent research findings on sports participation into account.