Ministers O’Donovan and McConalogue congratulate Team Ireland on Special Olympics World Winter Games Success
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From: Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
- Published on: 20 March 2025
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
The Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, and the Minister of State for Sport and Postal Policy, Charlie McConalogue, have today paid tribute to Team Ireland athletes, following their recent success at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
Team Ireland took home eleven medals in total, including five gold medals across various Alpine Skiing disciplines, from the Games that finished on Sunday 16 March.
Minister O’Donovan said:
“Our athletes performed brilliantly at the Special Olympics World Winter Games, taking home a total of eleven medals. I wish to commend their hard work and dedication that led to these fantastic achievements. This would not have been possible without the great work of Special Olympics Ireland, which works to transform lives through Sport, by working with people with intellectual disabilities. Support for sport and the transformative effect it can have on people’s lives is something Government is committed to continuing."
Minister McConalogue said:
“I wish to congratulate our athletes for their fantastic success at the Special Olympics World Winter Games. It was an historic games for Ireland with Caolan McConville becoming the first Irish athlete to compete in Alpine Skiing at the Advanced level and succeeding in bringing home two gold medals. His success and the success of Team Ireland at these games is a testament to the commitment and dedication of these athletes and of the community of volunteers supporting them."
“This government is committed to supporting Special Olympics Ireland, with €1.65 million in core funding to the organisation in 2025, to enable them to continue their great work in supporting our athletes.”
Notes
Team Ireland Medals – Special Olympics World Winter Games 2025
Gold
- Novice Giant Slalom: Máire Connolly
- Novice Giant Slalom: Lucy Best
- Advanced Giant Slalom: Caolan McConville
- Novice Super G: Lucy Best
- Advanced Super G: Caolan McConville
Silver
- Intermediate Giant Slalom: Donal Brennan
- Novice Super G: Clive Healy
Bronze
- Novice Giant Slalom: Clive Healy
- Novice Super G: Máire Connolly
- Novice Slalom: Lucy Best
- Floorball: Team Ireland Floorball Team (Damien Kirwan, Frank O’Dwyer, Gavin Bourke, Niall Corcoran, Jack Buckley, James Upton, Joseph Sheehan, James Hunter)
Funding for sport
The government continue to deliver on the funding commitments and objectives of the National Sports Policy 2018-2027 with Budget 2025 having allocated over €230 million for sport. As part of this, Government remains committed to funding Special Olympics Ireland.
As announced at the recent Core Investment announcement, Special Olympics Ireland received €1.65 million in core funding from the department and Sport Ireland in 2025. This brings the total core funding received by Special Olympics Ireland to €11.4 million since 2018. Including other grants, the total funding received by Special Olympics Ireland since 2018 is around €15.16 million.