Competitor Contribution Scheme
Definition
The Competitor Contribution Scheme (hereby referred to as CCS) is an incentive scheme developed by Motorsport Ireland to encourage competitors to give back to the sport which they participate in by contributing to roles usually held by volunteers.
Frequently Asked Questions
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If you’re a competitor, it means that you will be required to contribute one day of work in 2026 to a club or event of your choice in order to earn a CCS credit on your licence. This credit will then be checked when you apply for your 2027 licence. If it’s there, the licence price incurred will be the standard fee. If the CCS credit has not been obtained, then an additional non-contribution fee of €300 will be applied to your licence cost.
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Our sport relies on volunteers to keep it running. Without them, motorsport in Ireland would simple cease to exist. Volunteers on the ground are stretched too thin, and the same people are often called upon repeatedly. These people can sometimes feel pressured to say yes for fear that an event may go without the necessary people it takes to run safely and efficiently. To combat this, and to better value our volunteers and officials, we are asking competitors to give back to their sport. One day initially, and then two days per year from 2027 onwards.
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There are a huge number of people who will be exempt from this scheme. The aim of this is to focus on the majority of competitors who are eligible, rather than those who are not. For example, competitors aged under 18-years-old and over 65-years-old are automatically exempt. For a full list of exemptions, please review the criteria in Appendix 12 of the 2026 MI Yearbook.
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No. Your 2026 remains standard. The contributions begin in 2026 with licence pricing adopting a more dynamic model from 2027 onwards.
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If you do not contribute one day back to a club or event in 2026, your licence will incur the additional €300 non-contribution fee in 2027. If you are a competitor that is eligible for CCS credits, then it will not be possible to waive the fee.
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Any job or task which an MI-affiliated club determines as being worthy of a CCS credit is okay with us! This includes, but is not limited to, marshalling, acting in an official role, event administration, course setup, and many more! See Appendix 12 of the 2026 MI Yearbook for more information on this aspect of the scheme.
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MI-affiliated clubs are the only ones who can assign credits to your profile. The MI office, councils and commissions, and board members are all ineligible to assign credits. Each club will gain access to a version of the Motorsport Ireland licence system called the “Organiser” layer. This allows them to search for users in the system and add credits. It will also allow them to check licences ahead of events.
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Not at all. Volunteers and officials remain the backbone our sport. We hope that our current group of volunteers welcome the competitors to their ranks. With the added resource of potentially 2,500 days contributed back to the sport by competitors in 2026, we believe that our sport will be able to reach a level of stability unseen before.
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To gain a CCS credit to use towards your 2027 licence application, you should contact your club or event of choice and inform them that you would like to contribute. If you have a specific area, such as timekeeping or marshalling, which you already have experience in, then you should communicate this to the club and they will do their best to find a role that best fits your skills and their needs. It is important to contact the club at least 14 days before their event in order for them to best allocate their resources. The idea behind CCS is that if everybody does a little, then nobody has to do a lot.
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Throughout January, February, and then intermittently through the following months, Motorsport Ireland will be hosting online training sessions for club and event staff in order to train them how to use the new Organiser layer tools that will be available to them from 01 January onwards. Manuals and support will also be offered to make sure that clubs and event staff have all of the resources required in order to fully take advantage of this scheme. A certain level of flexibility will remain at the club’s discretion with regards to how best to operate CCS, but the tools and training will be available for all.
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No additional money will be collected until 01 January 2027. This year will all be about collecting the credits rather than using them. Motorsport Ireland will assess the uptake of the scheme over the course of the year and make arrangements for 2027 in conjunction with the clubs and the Volunteers & Officials Commission. The additional fee is there to act as a deterrent for those who don’t wish to participate in the scheme, and as a National Governing Body, it is not in MI’s best interest to gather funds without purpose.
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You can contact Alex Sinclair, Sport Officer for Motorsport Ireland at sportofficer@motorsportireland.com or by phoning 01 677 5628 during normal office hours. Additionally, your club or event staff may be in a position to answer more specific questions. Appendix 12 of the 2026 Motorsport Ireland Yearbook may also offer additional clarity on CCS
Resources
Motorsport Ireland aims to provide all parties with the required resources to carry out their roles effectively and efficiently. With CCS, new challenges arise, and we will be on hand to work through this process with clubs and event organisers, as well as competitors and officials.
Training
We understand that even with manuals and regulations, this is a new process for clubs and event organisers to manage. We have rolled out training throughout the year to train clubs and event organisers how to use both CCS and the new “Organiser layer” of our licence management system to best facilitate applying CCS credits and check licences before, after, and during an event. We will begin the year with regularly scheduled training dates, with more to be announced later this year.