ANNUAL 20 REPORT 18 Contents Introduction 2 Hosting European Championships 2 Strategic Plan 3 NGB Sports 4 Supported High Performance Sports 5 Boccia 5 Classification 5 Anti Doping 6 Tokyo 2020 6 Commercial Partners 6 Sport Ireland 7 Athlete update 7 Other Achievements 8 Governance Code 9 Staff 9 Board 9 Conclusion 9 2017 Paralympic Championships Performances 10 Staff Members 13 Board of Directors 13 Membership 13 Financial Statement 14 2018 | Paralympics Ireland | Annual Report | 1 Introduction hundreds of thousands watched on television or via 2018 was a momentous year for Paralympics Ireland at all the live stream. levels. Our athletes competed at major championships and delivered some stellar performances ensuring that a great haul Hosting this event was truly a team effort and it would not of medals were placed around Irish necks. have been possible without the help of our incredible hosting partners; Sport Ireland, Swim Ireland and Fáilte Ireland. Both Our dedicated team of partners, staff and volunteers came Sport Ireland and Swim Ireland provided members to our together to deliver an incredible week of major international board along with the assistance and knowledge of their expert competition at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre as the staff in advance of the event and throughout the 7 days of World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships were competition. hosted in Dublin. Our planning for Tokyo 2020 continued apace as we confirmed the appointment of our new Chef de Mission. We also had good support from Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and Dun Hosting European Championships Laoghaire. Our sponsors had a huge role to play in the delivery History was made in August as a major international Paralympic of the event and I would like to pay tribute to Toyota, Citi Group, event was held in Ireland for the first time. The World Para Flogas and Swans. One of the most crucial elements of the Swimming Allianz European Championships took place at events success was the design and delivery of a totally new the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre from August 13th brand and, thanks to the help of OLIVER Agency, we certainly to the 19th. Dublin welcomed 400 of the best Para swimmers had a modern and vibrant brand that really made the venue from right across Europe for a week of intense competition as come alive. 2 | Paralympics Ireland | Annual Report | 2018 reaction that we received from the public. The 400 volunteers gathered together at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic centre in their trademark green tshirts and were the welcoming face and helping hands for the 4000 spectators that attended throughout the week and we will always be grateful to them for their help. In order to put in place the plans to make Dublin 2018 we needed some great leadership. This was provided by the Local Organising Committee, all of whom volunteered their own time. I would like to thank Liam Harbison, Michael Murray, Mary McMorrow, Patrick Haslett, John Hogan, Neal Morrison, Tony Dignam and Sinead Murphy who all contributed hugely throughout. The LOC were complimented by an Operation Committee that consisted of a mixture of staff and volunteers who all took responsibility for their own areas of the event and ensured that each area ran seamlessly and successfully. We also leaned heavily on the expertise and experience of the International Paralympic Committee and World Para Swimming who were always on hand when assistance was needed. I would particularly like to thank Tracey Glassford, Tony Johnstone, Xavier Gonzalez and Andrew Parsons and their entire team for their assistance and friendship throughout the event. All of the planning, organising and work that went into Dublin 2018 was done with the aim of providing the best possible event for the athletes and to facilitate them to perform to the highest possible standard. It is fair to say that, after 21 World Records and 29 European Records, Dublin 2018 certainly delivered on this promise. It was also wonderful to see the event recognised as the Sporting Event of the Year for 2018 at the Irish Sport Industry Awards in April 2019. I would like to thank every single person who assisted whether they were staff or volunteers, the officials, our friends in World Para Swimming, partners, sponsors, board members, FA leads, coaches, mentors and athletes and every member of the public A special thanks must be given to the Dublin 2018 title sponsors, that attended for making Dublin 2018 a truly world class event. Allianz Ireland. Allianz have been a long standing partner to Paralympics Ireland and that incredible support was replicated Strategic Plan as they became the first commercial title sponsor of a European In April 2019 the Minister for Sport Brendan Griffin joined Para Swimming Championship. Allianz Head of Marketing, us at the Sport Ireland Institute to launch the new strategic Damien O’Neill, has been the driving force behind the successful plan for Paralympics Ireland; ‘Success Takes More.’ The plan partnership and was instrumental throughout the planning and came about as a result of an extensive consultation process delivery of the event and, on behalf of all of us, I would like to that took place throughout 2018. Kotinos were engaged to thank him for his constant support. lead the development of the strategic plan and to carry out the consultations necessary to inform the direction of the new In 2017 we appointed our event director for Dublin 2018, Sinead strategy. A steering group consisting of myself and Paralympics Gordon. This was a vital appointment as Sinead proved to be Ireland board members Pat McGinty and Lisa Clancy directed a highly capable leader and motivator who worked extremely the process in conjunction with Kotinos ensuring that the plan hard across every element of the event and ensured a successful remained realistic and achievable whilst delivering an ambitious delivery of the operations plan. plan that would challenge and excite us in equal measures. As this was our first time hosting a major event on our own The plan identifies four key pillars; 1. Building an Effective shores we did not have a volunteer base that we could call on High-Performance System 2. Driving Leadership in Para Sport in to assist in the delivery of the event. When we did call out for Ireland 3. Creating a Sustainable Paralympics Ireland Model 4. volunteers in December 2017 we were overwhelmed by the Building the Profile of Paralympics in Ireland. 2018 | Paralympics Ireland | Annual Report | 3 Pillar 2 particularly places an emphasis on the need for that they certainly embraced and in turn they delivered some Paralympics Ireland and the National Governing Bodies excellent performances. for sport and disability sporting organisations to work closely together for the good of para sport in Ireland. There is no doubt Each member of Team Ireland reached at least a final which that working together in partnership is the way forward for para is an incredible achievement against a world class field. Team sport and we will immediately begin this collaboration process. Ireland consisted of Patrick Flanagan, Ellen Keane, Ailbhe Kelly, Barry McClements, Jonathan McGrath, Sean O’Riordan, James With each pillar come a number of goals, all of which are set Scully and Nicole Turner. against an important timeline to ensure that delivery can be measured and monitored against key progress indicators. The stand out results from an Irish perspective came from Nicole Turner and Ellen Keane who both delivered the medals Ten ambitious headline goals have been identified that the Irish crowd craved. Ellen Keane secured Ireland’s encompassing all four pillars. Achieving these goals and first medal of the competition in the Women’s SM9 200m implementing the changes that they require will be a priority Individual Medley as the Irish crowd roared her home. Nicole for Paralympics Ireland for 2019 and 2020 to ensure the timely Turner then thrilled the attendance with an incredible success delivery of the benefits they will accrue. in the 50m Butterfly S6 event as she secured a silver medal in one of the most exciting events of the week. The final success Our plan is ambitious. However, it is achievable and measurable in the pool for Ireland was worth waiting for as Ellen Keane and it also sets out a clear pathway towards achieving our produced a dominant performance to outclass the field in the goals. 100m Breaststroke SB8 Final and secure gold for Ireland as the Irish crowd lifted the roof off the National Aquatic Centre in NGB Sports- Swimming and Athletics response to her wonderful performance. One major attraction to hosting the World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships was the opportunity for As the curtain came down on the events at the National Sports our Swimmers to compete in front of the world famous Irish Campus it was over to Berlin where our athletics team were sporting supporters. The support certainly did come out in competing at the World Para Athletics European Championships. numbers as over 4,000 spectators attended throughout the Ireland was represented by a strong team who had high hopes seven days of competition. With that support came additional of performing well and they certainly delivered performances pressure on the 8 person Team Ireland but it was a pressure above and beyond those expectations. 4 | Paralympics Ireland | Annual Report | 2018 In what will be remembered as a golden Tuesday, Ireland secured three gold medals thanks to Greta Streimikyte, Orla Barry and Jason Smyth. Smyth went on to win a second gold medal in the 100m as he extended his incredible unbeaten record to 13 years as he secured his 19th gold medal at major championships.