Why should the taxpayer fund sport? The answer, according to the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, is to contribute to “healthier lifestyles and an improved overall quality of life”.

Such arguments are used by governments throughout the developed world, all of which use taxpayers’ money to promote sport and exercise. The Irish government is spending more than €300m on sport this year — 10 times more than in 1998.

In a time of spending cuts, two questions should be asked of all public spending: what return do we get for taxpayers’ money? And how might we reform policy to increase that return?

Surveys show the primary reason people play sport is their health. Social benefits come next, well ahead of competition or improving performance. Sport brings people together; not just players, but club members, spectators and volunteers.

So investment on sport can, in principle, bring significant returns. But note a key assumption: to get the health and social benefits, the policy must increase participation. This is where the second question kicks in. Is current policy getting us the highest return in terms of greater participation?

Sports policy must strike three balances, each of which has a bearing on the answer. The first is the proportion of funding directed at elite sport and at grassroots. The second is what the money actually pays for — facilities, promotional events, development officers and so on. The third balance requires us to decide which specific sport and exercise activities deserve the most money.

At present, at least 62% of public money goes on elite rather than grassroots sport. Bizarrely, the direct subsidy to the horse and greyhound industries is greater than the entire budget of the Irish Sports Council, the state agency responsible for increasing participation. Even if this extraordinary subsidy were axed, it is hard to square such concentration on elite sport with the stated aim of improving the health of the population as a whole.

Most of the grassroots funding is grants to local sports clubs to improve their facilities. Is building more and better sports facilities really the best way to increase participation? Since 2003, three national surveys have asked more than 50,000 people about what sport and exercise they do and why they do it — or in most cases why they do not. Non-participants say that time, motivation and health (or lack of fitness) are the barriers. About 1% cite lack of facilities. Of those who participate, more than 95% had no problem finding suitable facilities. So why does policy continue to prioritise building facilities?

International evidence shows some policies are effective in increasing participation. The frontrunners are: community campaigns and events, getting social groups involved, individual activity programmes and linking local facilities with outreach work.

Thus, to get more people involved, policies must promote sport through communication with non-participants. Ireland now has a national network of Local Sports Partnerships whose job is to do that. They get about 2% of the budget.

So which sports should we prioritise? Contrary to popular belief, young Irish adults do far more sport and exercise than their parents did. The growth is in individual sports, particularly activities such as swimming and going to the gym, but also more than 60 minority sports. Team games, while high-profile, account for less than a quarter of adult sport. More people now go to the gym or swim than play soccer or GAA.

The pattern of government funding has not caught up. The majority of the budget for grassroots sport goes to the main team sports (GAA, soccer and rugby), especially the GAA. Even allowing for its high number of volunteers and club members, testimony to the fact that Gaelic games are the best organised Irish sports, the GAA’s level of funding stands way out.

There is a good case for public funding of sport, which can indeed improve our health and quality of life. But, especially at times like this, taxpayers deserve the best return. Current policy is skewed towards the elite, concentrates too much on facilities, and is failing to keep pace with the lives of a new generation.

This is an edited version of Getting Out What You Put In: An Evaluation of Public Investment in Irish Sport, by Dr Pete Lunn, an ESRI economist, available at http://www.esri.ie/publications/latest_publications/view/index.xml?id=2641

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