The Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education, Thomas Byrne, hosted a meeting of leading executives in sport today where the issue of incidents of racism and violence in sport was the single agenda item.
Senior representatives from the GAA, FAI and IRFU were joined in the meeting by Dr Una May, CEO of Sport Ireland.
“Today’s meeting with senior representatives in sport offered a welcome opportunity to exchange views on how best to tackle incidents of racism and violence in sport,” said the Minister. “I am grateful to the GAA, FAI and IRFU for their valuable input today.”
“As a sporting community, we have a shared interest in ensuring that inclusiveness, tolerance and respect are at the core of our games.”
“I have asked Sport Ireland to prioritise the development of a national Code of Conduct template for use across Irish sport and this template is expected to be ready by the end of May and will be circulated to all National Governing Bodies of Sport.”
It will state some obvious truths about behaviour from fans, players, coaches, clubs and all involved but there will be no harm in restating those areas wgere we collectively need to, can and will improve.