Sinn F\u00e9in has today launched a proposal for an Activity Card to support children\u2019s participation in sport and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has said the proposal would empower children and young adults who want to get involved in sports and culture, whilst also easing the burden for parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u20ac127 million proposal would see every child between the ages of 4 and 18 receive a card worth \u20ac130 which they could spend on extracurricular sports or arts activities, based on the successful Planet Youth primary prevention model first developed in Iceland in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachta Crowe said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe success of Team Ireland at the Olympics reminds us of the power of sport to unite and uplift communities, and the importance of investing in our young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSinn F\u00e9in believes in addressing this inequality of access, and easing the burden for parents and families who are struggling with the cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur \u20ac127 million proposal would see every child between the ages of 4 and 18 receive an Activity Card worth \u20ac130 which they could spend on extracurricular sports or arts activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur policy acknowledges the real benefits of investing in sports and cultural participation from a young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know from research by the ESRI and Barnardos that up to 20% of children drop out of individual activities due to the financial cost of the sport, and parents are struggling to cover subscription fees and the cost of kits and equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly half of those involved in structured cultural activities outside school at age 9 remain involved by the time they reach 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur policy acknowledges the real benefits of investing in sports and cultural participation from a young age, in terms of community development, social cohesion and educational results, as well as health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe save money in our health service when we support young people to stay active, helping to tackle obesity, depression, and substance abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe evidence from Iceland is striking, where their Recreation Card is credited with increasing youth participation and drastically reducing the number of teenagers engaged in anti-social activity, including alcohol, tobacco and drug use which used to be among the highest in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIreland needs a government prepared to adopt evidence-based policies based on international best practice, and this Activity Card proposal is one way to do just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA Sinn F\u00e9in led government would ensure that no child and no community is left behind.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in has today launched a proposal for an Activity Card to support children\u2019s participation in sport and culture. Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has said the proposal would empower children and young adults who want to get involved in sports and culture, whilst also easing the burden for parents. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5289"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5292,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289\/revisions\/5292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}