Sport Northern Ireland


Sport Northern Ireland is the regional government sports council for Northern Ireland.

History

It was established under the Recreation and Youth Service Order 1973 as the Sports Council for Northern Ireland, with its purpose defined by Article 3 of the Recreation and Youth Service Order 1986. Another organisation, the Youth and Sports Council for Northern Ireland, had been established by the Youth Welfare, Physical Training and Recreation Act of 1962.
From 2006, it organised Northern Ireland's involvement in the UK School Games.
It has recently contributed £7m to the building of Northern Ireland's first 50m swimming pool, for North Down Borough Council, approved in September 2009, being built by Farrans .

Structure

Its head office is based at the Malone Roundabout of the A55 and B103, near Barnett Demesne.

Funding

It receives around £7m a year from the National Lottery; the rest comes from the taxpayer.

Centres

It has a national outdoor training centre, the Tollymore National Outdoor Centre, at the base of the Mourne Mountains. This is a training base for mountaineering and canoeing. It was built in 1970.
At the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster, it has the Sports Institute for Northern Ireland. This was created in 2002.

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