Howth sailor Eve McMahon and Olympic rowing medallist Aifric Keogh have outlined the financial pressures facing Irish athletes as the OFI seeks changes to tax relief.
Eve McMahon says her €40,000 annual Sport Ireland grant helps her compete as a full-time sailor, while sponsorship remains essential to meeting the wider costs of an Olympic campaign.
The Howth Yacht Club Olympian outlines the expense of international sailing in today’s Irish Times, which also features Tokyo rowing bronze medallist Aifric Keogh.
Their accounts follow the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) Athletes’ Commission’s call for new tax relief for Irish Olympic athletes, reported by Afloat in September.
Sponsorship Supports Sailing Campaign
McMahon, who finished 13th in the ILCA 6 at Paris 2024, tells journalist Muireann Duffy that her top-level “podium” carding support is essential.
“It is really important to me, and it is allowing me to compete as a full-time athlete, but it never will cover an Olympic campaign.”
Irish Sailing supports coaching, strength and conditioning, and physiotherapy. However, McMahon says she pays competition entry fees, boat charter, sails, equipment, flights, accommodation and day-to-day travel expenses.
Those costs quickly absorb her carding funding, with personal sponsorship helping her meet the shortfall.
“I’m very fortunate to have additional sponsors, and if I didn’t have them, then I wouldn’t be able to cover that.”
The 22-year-old says she and her brother Ewan, who is also campaigning for the Olympics, still live at home. She describes the choice between investing in an apartment and putting money into her sailing campaign.
Keogh Highlights Rowing Costs
Keogh, who won bronze with Ireland’s women’s four at the delayed Tokyo Games, describes similar pressures in rowing.
Speaking to Ian O’Riordan, she says moving to Cork to pursue the sport meant needing her own boat and a car, alongside food, travel and competition costs.
Keogh received annual top-tier funding of €40,000 after her Tokyo medal success, but says securing financial support remains a barrier to entering and staying in elite sport.
She also challenges the assumption that winning an Olympic medal brings financial security, explaining that athletes can remain dependent on Sport Ireland funding.
Now chair of the OFI Athletes’ Commission, Keogh says support from families and others can be decisive in allowing athletes to pursue international competition.
Tax Proposal Includes Sailing and Rowing
As previously reported by Afloat, the commission’s pre-Budget submission proposes a €50,000 annual tax credit for each year an athlete is Sport Ireland-carded or competes at an Olympic Games.
Under the proposal, credits would accumulate and could be used against future Irish income tax after retirement or against non-sporting income earned during an athlete’s career.
The commission also seeks to extend the existing Sportspersons Relief to all Olympic sports and broaden qualifying income to include sponsorship and philanthropic support.
Sailing and rowing are among the disciplines the submission identifies as outside the existing qualifying list.
The changes remain proposals ahead of Budget 2027.
