The Irish Times view on Irish sport in 2025: individuals provide the inspiration
When Irish sports fans look back at 2025, they will delight in the fact that many of the sublime moments that lifted the country were produced by home grown sportsmen and women. Although Troy Parrott and his Republic of Ireland soccer teammates provided the most celebrated memory of 2025 – and Rory McIlroy finally won the US Masters – inspiring individual performances elsewhere are also worthy of note. The record medal haul from the Paris Olympics the previous year proved to be no false dawn for Irish sport in 2025 as podium places were achieved at world and European championship level in thrilling circumstances. There was the drama of Kate O’Connor’s final 800 metres event on her way to silver in the heptathlon at the world athletics championships in Tokyo and Daniel Wiffen stretching his long frame for gold at the European short course championships in Poland. Add in Aoife O’Rourke in boxing, Ellen Walshe in swimming ,Sarah Healy in athletics and paralympian Róisín Ni Riain and you see the immense achievement and progress in Irish sport. Consistent top level performances underscore how much is to be gained from proper sports funding. To that end, Ireland has developed one of the better models of financial support for our top athletes and the talented stars of the future. The international carding scheme, set up in 1998, has been the backbone of elite sports funding. From its initial government allocation of €1 million, it has grown to over €4.5 million in 2025. That increase may seem modest over 27 years but, crucially, it has been matched by significant and overdue investment in vital sports infrastructure.Funding for high performance sport exceeded €25 million in 2025, which is good value when the dividends are so visible. By comparison, greyhound racing received over €19 million and horse racing almost €80 million. These figures may not be directly comparable, but they are an interesting comparison. Building on this year’s success by funding individual athletes represents a good investment.
