Taoiseach’s Mayo village cycling club hits jackpot with Lottery grant

Jawgap

What a great country we live in that a rural club like this can get such money despite having the Taoiseach as a member.......



http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/taoiseachs-mayo-village-cycling-club-hits-jackpot-with-lottery-grant/

The cycling club from the area where Taoiseach Enda Kenny grew up and which named him as an honorary member last year has hit the jackpot with a National Lottery grant.
Islandeady Cycling Club, which has about 100 members, has received a grant of €20,000.

The club was named in a list published in recent days of 120 organisations that received a total of €2.7 million in Lottery grants from the Department of Health.
News that the grant was awarded to the Taoiseach’s club emerged in the national media, with The Sunday Times covering the story under the headline: “Kenny’s cycle club takes unusual route to funding”.

jamesd

Only in Ireland

Lusk_Doyle

jamesd wrote: »

Only in Ireland

Of course. Unless there are other countries with Taoisigh?

Donal55

Why dafuq would any cycling club need 20k?
Seriously?

Lusk_Doyle

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Of course. Unless there are other countries with Taoisigh?

Its just a fancy as Gaeilge name for prime minister so yes there are loads of countries with Prime Ministers

stecleary

Donal55 wrote: »

Why dafuq would any cycling club need 20k?
Seriously?

€20,000/100 = €200 per member

Free summer and winter kits for all. €20k wouldn't last pi$$ing time really if it was used correctly

ednwireland

We're they at the cycling ireland agm that's what I want to know

Wishbone Ash

Begrudgery is alive and well. More power to them. If the Taoiseach was a member of my club, I'd be hoping it would be beneficial to it.

Jawgap

Jawgap wrote: »

What a great country we live in that a rural club like this can get such money despite having the Taoiseach as a member.......



http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/taoiseachs-mayo-village-cycling-club-hits-jackpot-with-lottery-grant/

The cycling club from the area where Taoiseach Enda Kenny grew up and which named him as an honorary member last year has hit the jackpot with a National Lottery grant.
Islandeady Cycling Club, which has about 100 members, has received a grant of €20,000.

The club was named in a list published in recent days of 120 organisations that received a total of €2.7 million in Lottery grants from the Department of Health.
News that the grant was awarded to the Taoiseach’s club emerged in the national media, with The Sunday Times covering the story under the headline: “Kenny’s cycle club takes unusual route to funding”.

Can you expand on this piece, why was it 'unusual' etc? Otherwise I'm not seeing an issue here, unless you're insinuating the club in question got the grant because EK was a member?

Cee-Jay-Cee

It's completely wrong for any cycling club to get money like that. No matter what anyone thinks, cycling clubs are in the main made up of people who are reasonably well off, most have good bikes and plenty of cycling gear and I would doubt very very much if anyone in that club was going without.

There are a massive amount of more deserving causes that the money could have been given to like organisations for the less well off, homeless, injured/ill etc etc cycling clubs do not need money like that!

jamesd

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Can you expand on this piece, why was it 'unusual' etc? Otherwise I'm not seeing an issue here, unless you're insinuating the club in question got the grant because EK was a member?

It's unusual because it's the first cycling club in Ireland to get this grant. If you think they got it because of EK then that's up to you and others can have their own opinions.
From reading the article and here yes I think they got it some way because he is a member, I don't begrudge them though as nice for a cycling club to get it anyways but I don't see why a cycling club would need a grant this size or want a grant this size.

FortySeven

Are they saving to build a velodrome in castlebar?

What the hell do cyclists need with a grant? Will they be the first club with a safety car?

CramCycle

Shock f*cin horror. Cycling club with members who dared to try and use a legitimate but probably not often used by cycling clubs route to funding succeeded. Truth is there are probably very few cycling clubs who tried this route before. Hopefully it will inspire some to try it out.

Maybe an taoisigh and his staff recommended it as a route, certainly does not make them guilty of anything. I am only annoyed that I never thought of it as I know several GAA clubs who have been successful. It just never occurred to me that it would be worth pursuing. I certainly will push my club to look athrough it next year.

12 element

Enda Kenny is a member of Castlebar cycling club not Islandeady. He used to be anyway!

CramCycle

FortySeven wrote: »

Are they saving to build a velodrome in castlebar?

What the hell do cyclists need with a grant? Will they be the first club with a safety car?

Several clubs have either safety cars or support vehicles. Some through sponsorship, some through club funds and other through members donating their own cars but please, continue.

magicbastarder

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

It's completely wrong for any cycling club to get money like that. No matter what anyone thinks, cycling clubs are in the main made up of people who are reasonably well off, most have good bikes and plenty of cycling gear and I would doubt very very much if anyone in that club was going without.

There are a massive amount of more deserving causes that the money could have been given to like organisations for the less well off, homeless, injured/ill etc etc cycling clubs do not need money like that!

a portion of national lottery money is dedicated to sport, afaik. there's no harm in one sense in spending money if it will entice people to cycle, but without further detail i don't know how giving money to a cycling club will achieve that aim.

a friend used to be involved in a junior rugby club (as in junior leagues, not junior age groups) and their lottery funding came with conditions, one being they had to build an all weather soccer pitch to diversify what benefit to the community was delivered.

FortySeven

CramCycle wrote: »

Several clubs have either safety cars or support vehicles. Some through sponsorship, some through club funds and other through members donating their own cars but please, continue.

I'm sure they do but a small club in Mayo?

ThisRegard

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

organisations for the less well off, homeless, injured/ill etc etc

They normally fall outside of money set aside for sports grants.

CramCycle

70+ riders in their first year. Not that small. If I was suspicious of anything it's that the RSA supplied their club jersey.

As mentioned above, EK is not even a member. Someone at a meeting had a damn good idea. It worked. The rest is just paper not refusing ink.

Jawgap

Deedsie wrote: »

With all the issues of cronyism, nepotism, wasted Tax payers money, and general unfairness in Irish society I would actually consider a recreational cycling club getting a lift one of the more positive corruption stories I have heard.

To be honest having worked in the PS this is the type of stuff that used to drive me nuts.

I wasn't involved in lottery allocations but I did deal with grant allocations for other work/projects and when the call came from 'de Monister's' office and it led to someone or some organisation deserving a grant getting bumped in favour of someone associates with a politician it was quite dispiriting.

Anyway, plenty seem not to have a problem with it so I suppose the system will rumble on as it always has.

Good luck to the club and I hope they get a bump in membership and the money help takes them to the next level, but one wonders who got bumped so Enda could play fairy godfather?

Lumen

I'm amused at the idea of "good corruption". Everyone thinks their own cause is righteous.

Does anyone have any actual facts about how these grants are awarded?

Phoebas

Deleted User wrote: »

Can you expand on this piece, why was it 'unusual' etc? Otherwise I'm not seeing an issue here, unless you're insinuating the club in question got the grant because EK was a member?

Insinuating?

Jawgap is more than 'insinuating'. He's perfectly clear that the whole system has set aside 'on the whim of a politician'.

The evidence is overwhelming - that area of the country is represented by a politician.

Jawgap wrote: »

I'd say a lot of clubs pulling grant applications together and going through endless rounds of applying for money are just wondering what's the point when the whole system can be set aside on the whim of a politician.

uck51js9zml2yt

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

It's completely wrong for any cycling club to get money like that. No matter what anyone thinks, cycling clubs are in the main made up of people who are reasonably well off,

!

Do you go in for generalisations much?

Chuchote

I wonder what their application was based on. If, for instance, they wanted to buy bikes for kids who couldn't afford them and train with the kids every weekend, I'd be all for it.
Has any researcher ever done a study on how or whether grants flow from county to county depending on who's in power - did Offaly get an unusually large flow of grants for sports, farming, roads, etc a few years ago compared to now, did Clare get an especially good crack of the whip when de Valera was Taoiseach, etc. It would be interesting, if fiddly to get all the records.
It would also be interesting to see if this is reflected in other countries - and if so, whether it was more so in some kind of democracies than in others: will grants flow to Le Mans if Fillon wins in France, or to Neuilly if Le Pen wins, or to Amiens if Macron wins?

Jawgap

Lumen wrote: »

I'm amused at the idea of "good corruption". Everyone thinks their own cause is righteous.

Does anyone have any actual facts about how these grants are awarded?

I'll freely admit to not having the first clue about how lottery grants are disbursed.

Previously, I was involved in disbursing grants to SMEs and community organisations.

In that system, there was a fixed pot of money. People applied through a fairly lengthy and bureaucratic process that included them citing the justification for the grant and providing supporting info.

The applications were assessed and scored using a pre-agreed system then the pot was divided accordingly, unless there was a political intervention that just blew the whole thing out of the water!

But I'm sure this didn't happen in this case and it's purely coincidental that a club in the Taoiseach's constituency got a grant from a fund never accessed by a sports club previously.

ednwireland

The only thing I know was that an awful lot of lottery grants were awarded round donegal when mcdaid was sports minister. Not so much when coughlan was a minister (in fact it's one of the things a lot of people give out about her)

Phoebas

Jawgap wrote: »

But I'm sure this didn't happen in this case and it's purely coincidental that a club in the Taoiseach's constituency got a grant from a fund never accessed by a sports club previously.

The Roscommon Sports Partnership, St. Mary's GAA in Wexford?

Chuchote

I've heard of roads and even a pier in the west attributed to one politician.

smacl

ThisRegard wrote: »

They normally fall outside of money set aside for sports grants.

Except from what I've read it wasn't a sports grant, it was a health grant. From the article;

The headline points to the fact that Department of Health grants from Lottery monies are intended to fund the provision of health related services.

According to the dept of health, the money is for exercise equipment to improve health of the community;

Times article wrote:

The department said the money given to Islandeady will be used “to fund exercise equipment to help provide quality health and wellbeing programmes for members and the wider community”.

So no new jerseys or support car, looks like it should be spent on spinning bikes Personally, I'm all for the government spending money to encourage the population to engage in more exercise and would be interested to see if many other such clubs manage to avail of the grant. Gombeen politics no doubt, but rather a few spinning machines available to the community than some fresh tarmac on the local TDs driveway.

Beasty

Don't know the facts here, but €20k would not be excessive for some kind of capital grant. Not many clubs have "clubhouses/storage facilities" but maybe they are looking at something that will benefit the club over an extended period.

I have looked at the possibility of a grant for my own club. Not got round to applying yet, but the idea would be to get something from the local council to help fund a few bikes for kids within the club. However would be thinking more along the lines of something like €2,000 with an equivalent amount from the club. I could certainly see the grant option being attractive to disciplines like track and BMX where not only do you need a "home" to participate, but also a fleet available to allow people to give it a go, or help youngsters who may outgrow decent bikes quite quickly.

It's possible in this case that the Taoiseach made the club aware that such grants are available. I would not see any issue with a TD advising their constituents on such matters. Presumably other clubs making similar applications going forward will be looked upon in a similar fashion.

Chuchote

By the same token, wouldn't it be great if there was a Cycle to School scheme on the same terms (for parents' taxes) as the Cycle to Work scheme.