All State-funded sporting bodies have been instructed to review their child protection and safeguarding arrangements by 20 November, as Sport Ireland moves to establish whether the problems identified within the FAI extend beyond football.

The move was outlined in evidence prepared for today’s appearance before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.

It represents an important escalation of safeguarding oversight across Irish sport.

Sport Ireland CEO Dr Úna May confirmed that the agency has written to sporting organisations receiving public funding, reminding them of their obligations under the National Vetting Bureau Acts 2012–2016 and the Children First Act 2015.

They have been asked to review their procedures and confirm that the assurances previously submitted to Sport Ireland as part of funding applications or other requests accurately reflect safeguarding compliance across their sports.

The decision follows the discovery of inconsistencies in the Football Association of Ireland’s FAI Connect system, reported on Sport for Business last month.

What began as a series of questions about football governance at an Oireachtas hearing on 30 September has grown into a much wider examination of how national governing bodies demonstrate that they are fulfilling their safeguarding responsibilities.

From FAI Concerns to a National Review

In her prepared statement, Dr May explained that sporting organisations have been asked to examine the processes, practices and checks in place throughout their structures.

They must also confirm whether they remain satisfied with the declarations made in their most recent safeguarding compliance submissions to Sport Ireland.

The deadline for responses is Friday, 20 November.

This means they must not only have appropriate safeguarding policies in place but also demonstrate that those policies are operating effectively throughout the sport.

For governing bodies with extensive club networks, large volunteer workforces, and multiple layers of administration, the exercise may require examining how information is collected, validated, renewed, and monitored.

Sport Ireland works with more than 60 national governing bodies and 29 Local Sports Partnerships, giving the review relevance well beyond the immediate circumstances facing the FAI.

The central question is whether existing systems provide sufficient assurance of compliance, rather than simply recording that assurances have been given.

FAI Absence

The committee hearing proceeded without representatives of the FAI, despite the association being at the centre of the safeguarding concerns prompting the meeting.

The FAI said appropriate personnel were unavailable in November and offered alternative dates in December.

Committee Chair Alan Kelly had previously expressed concern about that decision, arguing that the public interest required the association to answer questions as soon as possible.

Those questions include the scale of the inconsistencies identified within FAI Connect, the scope of the independent review commissioned by the association and the immediate measures being taken to address any shortcomings.

The September committee appearance was followed by the FAI’s acknowledgement on 10 October that it had identified inconsistencies in its safeguarding compliance records.

The association subsequently initiated a comprehensive review, with consequences for coaches and match officials whose compliance status could not be confirmed.

For the Oireachtas committee, the outstanding issue is not simply what went wrong but how quickly shortcomings can be identified, corrected and independently verified.

Where Responsibility Ultimately Lies

One of the central governance questions emerging from the hearing concerns the respective responsibilities of national governing bodies, Sport Ireland and the Department of Sport.

Dr May’s prepared evidence makes clear that Sport Ireland will continue engaging with the FAI and provide appropriate guidance and support.

However, decisions on the specific measures required to address the identified problems remain the FAI’s responsibility.

The Department similarly emphasised that sporting organisations are independent bodies with responsibility for their own governance, safeguarding procedures and disciplinary processes.

That reflects the current structure of Irish sport, in which national governing bodies receive public funding and are subject to oversight requirements while retaining operational responsibility for their activities.

It also presents a continuing challenge for the sector: how to maintain the independence of sporting organisations, often required by International Federations, while ensuring appropriate accountability for compliance with safeguarding requirements.

The question becomes particularly important when public funding is involved.

Garda Vetting Is Only One Part of Safeguarding

Evidence prepared by An Garda Síochána added another dimension to the discussion.

The Gardaí confirmed that approximately 50,000 vetting applications relating to the FAI have been processed since 2023.

However, the Garda statement emphasised that vetting, while an essential legal safeguard, cannot guarantee a safe sporting environment on its own.

Vetting, safeguarding training, appropriate supervision, reporting procedures and effective organisational oversight must operate together.

A completed Garda vetting application does not, on its own, establish that every safeguarding responsibility has been fulfilled.

For clubs and volunteers, the challenge is to ensure these requirements are understood, regularly updated and consistently applied without creating unnecessary administrative obstacles to participation.

A Wider Test of Sporting Governance

At the 30 September committee meeting, Dr May had told members that Sport Ireland had no current governance or safeguarding concerns on its desk regarding the FAI.

The subsequent identification of inconsistencies in FAI Connect, followed by the decision to examine arrangements across other governing bodies, raises important questions about the effectiveness of the information available to organisations responsible for oversight.

It does not necessarily follow that the same problems exist elsewhere.

Nevertheless, the exercise creates an opportunity to establish whether the current model of safeguarding declarations, internal checks and external oversight provides adequate assurance.

The immediate priority is obtaining responses by 20 November.

The longer-term issue will be determining what those responses reveal, whether further independent verification is required and how any shortcomings should influence future governance arrangements.

For the wider sporting community, there is also a balance to be maintained between the essential protection of children and young and vulnerable people and the practical realities of a sector heavily dependent on volunteers.

Safeguarding must be effective, understandable and consistently enforced.

The developments surrounding the FAI have shown how quickly questions about administrative records can become questions about governance, public confidence and accountability.

The most important outcome of today’s Oireachtas scrutiny may ultimately be determined not by the answers given in Leinster House, but by the actions taken throughout Irish sport in the coming weeks.

This Committee Hearing is Ongoing

 

 

 

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Image Credit: Oireachtas TV

 

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