Posts in category: TTI News

If any member wishes to receive a copy please email our administrator Joan ([email protected]) or Ken Strong ([email protected]) and a copy will be reserved for you.

Ken Strong

Director

The SCEP is the Government’s primary vehicle for providing support to sports clubs and communities to develop high quality, accessible, safe, well-designed, sustainable facilities in appropriate locations and to provide appropriate equipment to help maximise participation in sport and physical recreation. Commercial organisations are not eligible for this programme, only voluntary non-profit making organisations.

Applications can be made online only from 9am on Friday 11th December 2020 until 5pm on Friday 12th February 2021. Any organisation applying for this programme must have a Tax Registration Number (TRN). This may take up to 10 working days to get confirmation of your TRN if you haven’t already got one. You should complete the following form and return to your local Revenue Office: www.revenue.ie/en/starting-a-business/documents/reg-form-voluntary-non-profit-org.pdf . The TRN is the unique identifier for each organisation and is the username for logging into the system.  

The next step in obtaining a grant is to register on the Department’s online OSCAR system on www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie. The Department will check and approve your registration and once your organisation is registered, you are ready to apply for funding. Each organisation can only put in one application, so we urge you to prioritise what you want to apply for. An organisation will be required to provide Match Funding at a minimum of 5% of the project total cost. An organisation will get extra marks for providing a higher percentage of the project costs themselves.

In the “Guide to Registration” (see link below), there is a list of what the programme does and does not fund. If it is your intention to apply for funding for a project that will require planning permission, you will need to get started on some of the documentation. Clubs can make contact directly with the Department should you have questions on what you intend to get funding for. If clubs have other queries, they can contact Table Tennis Ireland for assistance.

Additional information on applying for the programme can be found on the following links:

Guide to Registration: https://assets.gov.ie/22797/f06644c4005443e9885aad54e1b185c4.pdf

2020 Guide to Making an Application: https://www.gov.ie/en/service/d13385-sports-capital-programme/#how-to-make-an-application

Sports Capital YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq1kBv-FA7QcFmu8cdrIsTg

Presentation on making an application for the 2018 Sports Capital Programme: https://assets.gov.ie/19996/4ff6b44ee3c2447aa3dcf15409b274ca.pdf

Dear Member,

Although 2020 has been a challenging year for obvious reasons, we have made progress in attracting extra financial and staffing resources (details are provided below). This extra money and staffing will position us well to implement an updated strategy which is currently being developed. We all hope that 2021 will be a successful year for Table Tennis Ireland and we look forward to working with our Branches to that end.

Earlier in the year, the Board placed an advertisement for a Director through BoardMatch. Following an interview process, Ciara Joseph was appointed as an Associate Director at a Board meeting in July 2020. Over the last number of months, Ciara has demonstrated that she is very experienced and knowledgeable in the area of Human Resources. At our last Board meeting earlier this month, Ciara was appointed as a full Director.

On the 19th of October, we submitted our documentation and our proposed 2021 budget to Sport Ireland as part of the 2021 Core Grant application. We expect to receive confirmation of the core grant allocated to us by early January. We have requested an increase in our grant to support our plans for expanding participation in our sport by investing in grass-roots table tennis.

We advertised for a Participation Officer and following an interview process, Chris McGovern has been appointed to the role. Chris has commenced work with us this week and will initially be working two days per week. His primary role will be to improve engagement with our members, clubs, branches and various partners.

We submitted a Dormant Account Funding 2020 application to Sport Ireland, and we were allocated €20,000. With this initiative, we plan to collaborate with five Local Sports Partnerships, Irish Wheelchair Sport and the National Rehabilitation Hospital. We aim to work with children and adults with a disability or special needs and with children from socially deprived areas to involve them in our sport.

Sport Ireland has recently approved the placement of an Aspire Graduate for a period of eleven months with us. They will be allocating sufficient funding to us to cover the salary of the graduate. We have advertised for this role and completed interviews last week. The successful candidate will commence on the 7th of December. The primary role of the graduate will be to assist with administration and support the launch of the new Coach Licensing scheme.

The Board has approved the setting up of a National Safeguarding Committee. The committee will liaise with clubs on the implementation of safeguarding best practices and confirm that volunteers have completed appropriate safeguarding training and undergone vetting. The committee will comprise of the Helen Earley, the provincial Children’s Officers and John McKenna.

Throughout the year, our strategy committee has been active in drafting our new Strategy (2021 to 2024). The circulation of a draft for review to various stakeholders is due in the coming weeks. It is important that we hear from them to ensure that the draft strategy meets the needs of the membership and we can allocate the appropriate resources in the coming year to implement the strategy actions in full. 

There has been on-going work by the Board and Management Committee on the return to play protocols. We have been liaising with Sport Ireland on the “Living with COVID 19 framework” for our sport.

Although playing opportunities have been, and continue to be very limited, we were delighted to be able to hold a safe and successful National Championships at the end of August. We hope that 2021 can see a return to provincial action and we wish you all the very best with your plans.  

Both the Board and the Management Committee are actively involved in other matters so if you have any queries in relation to the above, or indeed matters which are not covered in this brief report, please let us know.

Issued on behalf of the Board of Directors

The documentary will air on Newstalk on Sunday 29th November 2020 at 7am and will be repeated on Saturday 5th December 2020 at 9pm. The documentary will be available as a podcast after it’s first broadcast.

“No Ordinary Joe” will keep its audience riveted. Full of fascinating detail and intrigue, it will be of interest to a wide audience, from students of history to those who appreciate a gripping yarn.

https://www.newstalk.com/documentary-and-drama-on-newstalk/no-ordinary-joe-1110555?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=web

Members, Branches, Leagues, Associations and other groups of Table Tennis Ireland are invited to make a submission to the Committee, with either specific suggestions, or requests for consideration to be given to specific areas or categories of affiliation.  All submissions will be considered by the Committee, and may be used in the final version of the updated scheme.

It is vital for the health and future development of table tennis in Ireland that the Association has a comprehensive understanding of the location and demographic of our members and players, which will assist in seeking increased national and regional grant aid and sponsorship, and enable the Association to better target members, clubs and regions with staffing and equipment support.

The affiliation review will be completed before the end of 2020, and will also consider affiliation periods and methods of collection, in an attempt to provide additional value and support for members, while also seeking to adequately record all the participants who take part in table tennis throughout the country.  The review will be conducted by a sub Committee under the auspices of the Management Committee.

All submissions should be sent to [email protected] by Sunday 29th of November 2020.