Leinster Rugby has today confirmed that MS Ireland and the Down Syndrome Centre have been selected as the club’s exclusive charity partners for the next two seasons.

After a public tender process involving 57 submissions, eight charities presented to Leinster Rugby and in the end, the players chose to work with MS Ireland and Down Syndrome Centre for the next two seasons.

To kick off the partnership Leinster Rugby also announced that in association with their travel partner JWT, each charity would receive 10 travel and accommodation packages each to an away Guinness PRO14 game for them to use to their benefit. The packages include travelling to and from the game with the team, accommodation and of course tickets to the game itself.

Regarding both charities, MS Ireland’s mission is to enable and empower people affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS) to live the life of their choice to their fullest potential. There are over 9,000 people living with MS in Ireland with 3,122 of those based in Leinster.

The Down Syndrome Centre is a family focused centre that provides essential services for children with Down syndrome and their families. They support over 200 children a week in their centre in Dublin.

Both charities were in attendance at a Leinster Rugby training session this morning in Energia Park at the invitation of Leinster Rugby Head Coach Leo Cullen and afterwards Cullen and his coaches and players met with the charities.

Speaking after the announcement, CEO of MS Ireland Ava Battles said, “We are delighted to have been selected as one of the Leinster Rugby charity partners for the next two seasons.

“We are looking forward to a very fruitful relationship over the coming two years, working with the extended Leinster family on exciting campaigns and awareness programmes.

“If the partnership is half as successful as the team have been on the pitch, it will have a huge impact on our vital services which help over 9,000 people living with Multiple Sclerosis throughout Ireland.”

Also speaking at Energia Park was the CEO of the Down Syndrome Centre, Sharon Dagg, who commented, “The Down Syndrome Centre is delighted to have the support of Leinster Rugby and to be selected as one of their charity partners for the next two seasons.

“For a small, yet thriving charity, to be associated with a club that has achieved so many prestigious accolades over the last season, will be a significant support in raising the profile of the charity.

“As a family focussed centre with a positive ethos we feel there is a strong synergy between the two organisations and we look forward to working together in a mutually beneficial partnership over the coming seasons.”

This is the second time that Leinster Rugby have entered into a charity partnership for two seasons coming off the back of the last tender process in 2016.

“We learned a lot from the last two seasons with DEBRA Ireland and Aware and we are extremely grateful to them for being brilliant partners over the last two years,” explained Leinster Rugby Communications Manager Marcus Ó Buachalla.

“The process to select two new charity partners was as competitive a process as we have ever had and we are extremely grateful to all 57 charities that submitted an application. Narrowing it down to 12 initially and then to eight charities that came in to present to us in UCD and then to our final two was not easy but we are delighted to be partnering with MS Ireland and the Down Syndrome Centre for the next two seasons.

“It was great to have them here at training this morning as guests of the team and for them to meet Leo and the players.”

Further information on both charities can be found at the following links:

www.ms-society.ie

www.downsyndromecentre.ie

Finally, Leinster Rugby did also confirm this morning that the process for charities to apply for ad hoc donations from Leinster would continue and would again be through an online application process to be found at leinsterrugby.ie/charitypartners.