Eoin Sheahan

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Off the Ball Daily.

Welcome back.

So the Irish Sport Monitor was launched today in Dublin.

These are the latest figures on participation released by Sport Ireland.

So the top line is that more people than ever before, 2.16 million to be specific, are taking part in sport on a weekly basis.

And weekly sports participation now stands at 48.4% of the population.

In terms of specifics...

Personal exercise remains the most popular activity, one in five adults participating weekly.

Then you've got swimming, running, cycling and weights training as the rest of the top five most popular sports.

Then you've got Gaelic football, soccer, dancing, yoga and Pilates, all recording weekly participation rates of 3%.

Golf is in at 2%.

So participation levels significantly on the rise, almost 2%.

Every age group has recorded a rise since 2017.

But then on the other side of things, weekly recreational walking rates have fallen by 4% compared to 2024.

And the percentage of people meeting national physical activity guidelines through sport and walking alone fell from 40% to 38%.

So to discuss all this and the upcoming round of the Community Sports Facilities Fund, very happy to say to Charlie McConnelogue, Minister of State with responsibility for sport,