One of the most energising sessions of the Sport for Business Women in Sport Conference brought together three of the new names added this year to the AIG-supported 50 Women of Influence in Irish Sport list — leaders whose impact spans participation, inclusion, and national-level strategy.
Julie Nicholson, Chair of the Irish Association of Powerchair Football; Rosie Barry, President of Squash Ireland; and Bethany Carson, Women in Sport Lead at Sport Ireland, joined Rob Hartnett for a conversation that underlined why fresh thinking and diverse leadership continue to reshape the Irish sporting landscape.
Championing Inclusion
Julie Nicholson’s perspective was rooted in the unique and transformative role of disability sport.
“We talk about visibility and opportunity — for a lot of our athletes, getting on the court or the pitch is visibility,” she said.
She spoke about the rapid development of powerchair football in Ireland, the players’ passion, and the barriers that still exist in funding, facility access, and public profile. “Influence means not just sitting at the table, but ensuring that athletes who have often been overlooked are fully represented in national discussions.”
“Our athletes don’t want to be inspirational stories — they want to be athletes. And they deserve the same respect, resources and pathways as anyone else,” she added.
She went further, connecting Irish sport to Purple Tuesday, the global movement championing accessible customer experiences, and to the broader commercial case often overlooked in sport — the Purple Pound, representing the spending power of people with disabilities and their families.
“It’s not just the right thing to do,” she said. “It’s a huge untapped market. When organisations make sport more accessible, everyone benefits — morally, socially and economically.”
Her inclusion on this year’s 50 Women of Influence list represents a growing recognition that disability sport leadership is integral to any conversation about equality.
Squash Ireland’s Rebuild — and Rise
Rosie Barry spoke about Squash Ireland’s resurgence and the momentum generated by Olympic inclusion in 2028, but she emphasised that none of it is achievable without the full ecosystem aligned behind change.
“Influence isn’t about hierarchy. It’s about momentum, and momentum comes from people buying into the journey.”
Barry explained how stakeholder engagement has become a cornerstone of squash’s development — from clubs and coaches to volunteers, parents, facility partners and newly emerging communities of players. By broadening the circle, she said, the organisation has been able to modernise its approach, strengthen governance, and build genuine trust.
“We realised early on that if plans were going to work, they couldn’t happen to the sport — they had to happen with the sport. When stakeholders feel heard, they become invested, and when they become invested, they drive the change as much as we do.”
She spoke about this being especially important for women and girls, who often experience squash differently depending on club culture, tradition or environment. Engaging those voices directly has been central to designing programmes that feel authentic, not imposed.
With Olympic visibility now within reach, she affirmed that stakeholder alignment will be the engine that converts interest into sustainable participation.
Building System-Wide Impact at Sport Ireland
If Nicholson represents community-driven inclusion, and Barry represents sport-specific transformation, then Bethany Carson embodies the national policy lens that ties the entire system together.
As Women in Sport Lead at Sport Ireland, Carson works at the intersection of research, funding, policy and measurement — the scaffolding that underpins real change.
“So many of the advances we celebrate — more girls playing, more women coaching, stronger governance — they don’t happen by accident,” she said. “They happen because of structure, consistency and long-term commitment.”
Carson spoke about the breadth of programmes now running through Women in Sport funding, the growing shift toward cross-sport collaboration, and the importance of protecting progress from year to year.
“When we create change that lasts beyond a single cycle or a single grant, that’s when we know the system is working,” she said.
Her addition to the Influential 50 list reflects her role at the centre of many of the structures driving Ireland’s progress in women’s sport — often quietly, but with national-scale effect.
Image Credit: Sport for Business, Paddy Murphy of Ogier
Further Reading for Sport for Business members:
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