The American confectionery firm, which produces some of the most well-known snacks in the world including Belvita, Oreo and Toblerone, will continue to support established and up-and-coming Irish Paralympians for the next three years.

A big part of this will come through the support of the Cadbury Foundation.

Mondelēz owns the Cadbury brand and as part of the deal the Cadbury Foundation will work with Paralympics Ireland to run annual Talent and Awareness events across the country.

These events will support Paralympics Ireland's strategic objectives in the area of talent identification and seek to drive awareness and encourage participation in Paralympic sport.

"We are delighted to extend our support of Paralympics in Ireland for a further three years," said Mondelēz Ireland managing director, Justin Cook.

"Continually identifying talent is crucial to both our own business and also to Paralympics Ireland and we plan to build on the talent search initiatives through to Rio and beyond.

"The success of Paralympic athletes continue to inspire people in Ireland and we are delighted to support the Paralympic movement."

Cadbury was the official treat provider to Ireland's Olympic and Paralympic teams at London 2012 and since then has supported Paralympics Ireland to identify new talent through initiatives such as the Paralympic Talent Search Day in October 2012, and the current Paralympic Fast-Track squad which is being supported on the road to Rio 2016.

Cook was joined by three of Ireland's top Paralympic sporting stars, Mark Rohan, Ellen Keane and Gary Messett along with Paralympics Ireland chief executive Liam Harbison, at the announcement of the deal in Grand Canal Dock in Dublin today.

Para-swimming star Ellen Keane will be one of the Irish athletes to benefit from the new sponsorship deal with Mondelēz ©Getty Images



Para-cyclist Rohan won two gold medals at London 2012, while Keane is a double bronze medallist from the International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada last year.

"We are delighted and proud Mondelēz have chosen to partner with us again for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games cycle," said Harbison.

"They were a valued partner for the London 2012 cycle supporting us to deliver the hugely successful post-Games talent search.

"With their increased investment announced today we are confident of being able to build our partnership towards supporting our recently published strategic vision of leading a sector wide talent identification model."

Ireland won 16 medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games including eight gold.

Cadbury were an official sponsor of London 2012 and last year Mondelēz signed a similar sponsorship deal with the British Paralympic Association, which also runs through until 2017.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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