Disability Sport official Kevin O'Neill

"Really, it's a dire future for disabled people in Northern Ireland," added O'Neill.

He added that the Sport Council's decision to reduce that grant was "ironic given that the Special Olympics are taking place in Ireland in 2003".

"Other parts of the UK and particularly the Republic of Ireland are investing in disabled sports.

"They see the benefits in terms of social inclusion and well being.

"It's ironic that when the biggest disabled sports event hits Ireland, that there will be no provision 100 miles up the road.

"We were aware of a general cut in funding to the Sports Council of around 25 per cent but how this translates into a 100 per cent cut in our sports development grant, we can't understand.

Contacting minister

"We can't understand the reason other than that they don't seem to have an easy way to fund disabled sport," added O'Neill.

The Disabilty Sport official claimed that he found the Sports Council's policy "incoherent".

"We receive the least amount of public investment in the UK. We have raised most of our funds in recent years from the private sector.

"Wales, which has twice the population of Northern Ireland, received between �500,000 and �600,000 of public funding last year as against �30,000 for us," added O'Neill.

Disability Sport will be contacting the Sports Minister Michael McGimpsey to discuss the issue.

Responding to the criticism, Sports Council Lottery director Nick Harkness said that his organisation's budget had been cut by more than �500,000 this year.

"Our numerous partner organisations therefore all take some degree of financial cut," he said.