Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has hosted a special event at Stormont, celebrating the work of local projects which have been awarded the prestigious London 2012 Inspire mark in recognition of their excellence and connection to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

To celebrate along with the projects, the Minister welcomed Inspire ambassadors X Factor judge Louis Walsh, Olympian and World Champion boxer Wayne McCullough and Paralympic Gold Medallist Michael McKillop to Parliament Buildings.

Speaking at the event, the Minister said: “My aim has been to maximise every opportunity to deliver a positive impact in Ireland from the 2012 Games. I believe that the Inspire programme will be an important part of that legacy. It is one of the real success stories of our engagement with the Games. We have a total of 90 Inspire projects operational here, and 64 of these were developed locally. It is estimated that the local projects alone are creating nearly one million opportunities for people in our communities to take part in Games-inspired activities."