Paralympics Ireland confirmed eight new slots for the Paralympic Games today in the Para Equestrian and Para Swimming sport at an event to coincide with a major Paralympic milestone. Today marks six months to go to the Paralympic Games in Paris. Paralympics Ireland were joined by members of the Irish sporting community and the French Ambassador to Ireland, Vincent Guérend, at The Helix in DCU to celebrate and hear the stories of some of the athletes hoping to qualify. Speaking at the event Paralympics Ireland Chef de Mission, Neasa Russell, made the announcement that six slots have been confir ..read more

Róisín Ní Riain and Ellen Keane set the tone for the Irish para swimming team at the Citi Para Swimming World Series in Melbourne with three medals between them on day 1 of the competition. Ni Riain struck gold twice in the 100m Backstroke (1:06.69) and the 100 Butterfly (1:06.36). Ellen Keane followed this up with a silver medal performance in the 50m Breaststroke (37.81). Day 2 Schedule: (Local Melbourne Time) 09:00 – 100m Breaststroke: Deaten Registe (heat 2) 09:07 – 100m Breaststroke: Dearbhaile Brady (heat 2) , Ellen Keane (heat 1), Nicole Turner (heat 3), Róisín Ní Riain (heat 2 ..read more

The Citi Para Swimming World Series kicks off this weekend at the Melbourne Sports Centres (MSAC) which is hosting the competition for the fifth time. The meet will be run in conjunction with the 2024 Victorian Open LC Championships. Six members of the para swimming team have been training down under for the past two weeks in preparation for the competition. Ellen Keane, Nicole Turner, Roisin Ni Riain, Dearbhaile Brady, Amy Sheridan and newcomer Deaton Registe will all take to the water over the three days of competition.   Day 1 Schedule: (Local Melbourne Time) 09:09 – 100m Backstroke: D ..read more

Seven members of the para athletics squad were in action at the Athletics Ireland National Indoor Championships this weekend, with many producing personal best performances over the two day event. Day 1 featured Aaron Shorten, Cathal Ryan and Alex Lee on the track. Cathal Ryan posted a time of 51.92 in his 400m heat which was the first of seven on the day. This time did not see him through to the semi-final stage with only the first two and 4 fastest after that advancing. In another packed field Alex Lee placed 4th in his 200m heat with a time of 24.77. The six fastest out of the 7 heats advan ..read more

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, and the Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education, Thomas Byrne TD, today announced a record annual sum of €25m to be invested through Sport Ireland in High Performance Sport in 2024. This is the highest ever level of investment into High Performance Sport in Ireland, both for an individual year and for an Olympic/Paralympic cycle, marking a huge step towards the investment objectives set out in the National Sports Policy 2018-2027. There’s also been a substantial increase on the €59m invested in ..read more

Paris 2024 unveiled the medals for the Paralympic and Olympic Games on 8 February. For the first time in the history of the Games, each medal is decorated with a highly symbolic and priceless piece of metal – the original iron from the Eiffel Tower. By placing a piece of the French symbol at the centre of the medals, Paris 2024 hopes to leave athletes with an unforgettable memory of the Games, of Paris and of France. The front side of the Paralympic medal is a beautiful graphic representation of a low-angle view under the Eiffel Tower. To enable the three medals – gold, silver and bronze – to ..read more

Galway woman Shauna Bocquet had a packed schedule at the 2024 Sharjah International Open Para Athletics Festival racing in six events over the three day competition. The 12th edition of the competition was hosted by hosted by Al Thiqah Club featuring 291 athletes from 38 countries. She posted two personal best times in her 1500m and the 5km races. Her massive PB of 11.16 in the 5km race has also given her the high performance standard for Paris 2024, another important milestone on the path to qualification for the Paralympic Games this summer. Day 1: 100m – 17.62 800m – 1.52 Day 2: 200m ..read more

2023 was always going to be a busy one for Paralympics Ireland with Paris 2024 looming large. While the 2024 Paralympic Games is one of our main points of focus, our team are constantly striving to promote para sport in Ireland and find new ways to encourage participation in young athletes across the country. With this in mind, last year the PTSB NextGen athlete recruitment campaign was born. Paralympics Ireland Pathway Lead Brian Hughes put pen to paper to reflect on the takeaways from the first successful season of the PTSB Next Gen athlete recruitment campaign which took place last year: &n ..read more

Para athletics was out in full force this weekend at the Athletics Ireland Indoor Games in Dublin this weekend. Jordan Lee jumped to new heights setting a personal best by clearing 1.92. His performance also saw him reach the high performance standard for Paris 2024, an important step on his path to qualification for the Paralympic Games this year. This was Jordan’s first indoor competition in two years due to injury and his highest jump in four years. Mary Fitzgerald threw an indoor personal best and indoor national record of 8m in the shot put, also hitting the high performance stan ..read more

Paralympics Ireland title sponsor Permanent TSB has officially unveiled their new identity, with the bank to be known as PTSB from today. The rebrand was announced the new brand and visual identity to staff at an event on Saturday at Dublin’s RDS. PTSB is also adopting a new customer promise, Altogether More Human, reflecting its intentions as it becomes a full-service personal and business bank following the acquisition of the Ulster Bank retail, SME and asset finance businesses.     PTSB was unveiled as the title sponsor for both the Irish Olympic and Irish Paralympic teams i ..read more