There was a significant sporting presence in Committee Room 3 at the Oireachtas yesterday with representatives gathered to talk about and be quizzed on areas of inclusion across the sector.

Mary O’Connor from the Federation of Irish Sport, Aoife Rafferty and Ger McDermott from the FAI, Tom Ryan and Ger Mctavish from the GAA, Anne Marie Hughes and Ultan O’Callaghan from the IRFU, Dr Una May and Helen McHugh from Sport Ireland, and Micheál O’Conaire and James Lavelle from the department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media were present to speak on behalf of their organisations and lay out the strong work that is taking place across inclusion.

The Department representatives spoke of the importance of Sport for All and the funding provided by Dormant Accounts Funding. They highlighted that added weighting was given to funding submissions for facilities and programmes that actively target areas of the population that are underrepresented in sport.

“It is crucial that our work in inclusion is embedded across all of our work at Sport Ireland,” said Dr Una May, CEO. Referencing the recent issue in Gymnastics ireland, she also strongly condemned racism in all its forms, and spoke of the equal approach to funding Paralympic and Olympic athletes under the international carding scheme.

“The gender gap has reduced from 16 percent in 2007 to 5 percent in 2022 and indications from the research in 2023 are that this is reducing further,” she added.

Mary O’Connor spoke of the areas of the National Sports policy and the Action Plan that reference inclusion and are being encouraged across all National Governing Bodies.

Tom Ryan spoke of the introduction of the GAA Manifesto ‘Where We All Belong’ as being central to the changing profile of the population and the Association. “The successes and challenges of inclusion often happen away from the spotlight.” We have developed adapted a number of games and participation activities under the GAA For All banner that have been very warmly welcomed.”

The Irish Life Healthy Clubs initiative has extended from an initial 16 clubs to 450 in the current campaign and Ryan also referenced the delivery of food and provisions to 35,000 vulnerable individuals across the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Aoife Rafferty, the FAI’s People and Culture Director spoke of the crucial role that football has as the global game to welcome the changing face of Irish society.

“We have a clear focus on encouraging everyone to play the beautiful game,” she said in her opening statement. “Women, those with disability, embracing the LGBTQ community, ethnic minorities, those with mental health issues as well as older groups that may have stopped playing, are all key areas within our 2022-2025 strategic plan.”

Anne Marie Hughes is the Head of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity at the IRFU and was present at our Sport for Business sport for Social Good conference last week.

“Inclusivity is embedded within the IRFU’s Strategic Plan and we are currently providing rugby opportunities to over 1,0000 people with a disability across all four provinces.”

“The IRFU’s Spirit of Rugby Charter states that everyone has a right to learn, play and administer the game irrespective of differences in age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or socio-economic background.”

Once the questioning started, the temporary Chair Christopher O’Sullivan was the first to raise the issue of the Gymnastics Ireland racism video from 2022 that drew renewed international attention in recent weeks.

“The incident shouldn’t have happened, the child was badly let down and it is right that Gymnastics ireland apologised but it is unfortunate that the length of the process was unfortunate,” said Micheál O’Conaire.

“Ministers are writing to all NGB’s to encourage review of policies on inclusion with reference to the Code of Conduct.”

“Gymnastics Ireland have agreed to a new committee, a new position and a welcome of SARI to assist in ensuring that the policies are fit for purpose.”

“Building capacity and increasing training, education and awareness in racism and unconscious bias has been fast tracked and has already begun,” added Dr Una May.

Sinn Fein representative Chris Andrews asked about access for female players to a proper standard of facility.

Ger McDermott replied that the proposed football facility fund would allow clubs that do not qualify for Sports capital funding to get funding, and referenced that 30 percent of clubs do not have toilet facilities.

GAAGo made an appearance again but Tom Ryan reiterated that the games which were shown were additional rather than substituting for games that were shown free to air, strongly pushing back on any accusation that the Association was becoming too “exclusive.”

Senator Malcolm Byrne recognised that all the questions on Gender equity were being asked by Male representatives but asked whether the 40 percent target was going to be met.

“The vast, vast majority of bodies will reach the target by the end of this year and while there may be some of the smaller organisations that are struggling to get there, sanctions will kick in immediately.”

Shane Cassells asked if the expansion of boards was a way of circumventing the requirement for 40 percent but again this was pushed back on by all the bodies with a number of issues relating to existing election processes and term limits given as the technical reason.

“The issue is complicated and when you dip into the detail there are areas that will require a lot of work, but the will is there and we will get there. There will be a high level view published by the associations in early 2024 together with a roadmap on how it will be achieved,” said Tom Ryan in reply to another question on integration from Senator Cassells.

The Let’s Get Visible Campaign was explained by Helen McHugh and the day of activity taking place with sporting pride at the Sport Ireland campus on October 21st was held up as an example of further progress in the area of LGBTQ inclusion.