Sir, – The benefit of sport for all is well documented, and the Government has often stated its aim of increasing the participation of the public. Sport for life is an ideal that is rightly to the fore of public policy for health and wellbeing reasons, as well as many other advantages, such as integration, sociability and teamwork, to name a few.
In recent years, however, sporting bodies have faced higher insurance fees, substantially increasing their running costs and the cost of participation for their members. In some cases, sports and leisure facilities have been driven out of business.
Isn’t it time that the Government considered a national sports insurance scheme catering to sporting organisations, sports clubs and national governing bodies to ensure their continued existence by underwriting their rising insurance costs?
A sports insurance scheme such as this could operate on a quasi-commercial basis and would enable the many organisations who provide facilities to the public to survive and hopefully thrive.
Perhaps it could lead to improved facilities, with lower entry costs meaning greater participation, and in some cases preventing the demise of sports clubs.
The aim should be to maintain the broadest access to sports to provide encouragement to the widest cross-section of public.
The cost to Government of creating and running such a scheme is likely in the longer term to be partly offset by the benefits of a healthier nation. – Yours, etc,
CONOR COLUMB,
Dublin 4.