The Olympic Federation of Ireland held its Annual General Meeting of its members at the Conference Centre on the Sport Ireland Campus yesterday.

The AGM followed the official opening of the new OFI offices in a purpose-built building that also will house an athlete relaxation area.

Baseball Ireland was officially approved as a new Associate Member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

Baseball was a sport at the Tokyo Olympics, with a hope of also featuring on the LA Olympic Programme.

The AGM also heard from the Chair of the Gender Equality Commission, Lochlann Walsh, who unveiled the Gender Equality strategy.

The strategic plan spans 2023 – 2025 and focuses on striving towards increased gender-balanced visibility in sport, better balance in the high-performance coaches network, and a need for OFI to lead by example, with research and data underpinning all activities.

Walsh emphasised the specific need to address the area of imbalance in high-performance coaching, highlighting that the commission will be embarking on a piece of research into this area in the coming weeks.

We will focus specifically on the Gender Equality Commision strategy and on the Annual Report next week on Sport for Business.

CEO of the Olympic Federation of Ireland Peter Sherrard highlighted the growing team in the organisation, with a three-fold growth since 2018.

This was a timely announcement on the day that the office moved into the new building on the Sport Ireland Campus, which was officially opened by Minister for Sport and Physical Education, Thomas Byrne TD.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Minister Thomas Byrne and the Department for their support for our longer-term plans, their commitment to Irish sport and to the development of the Campus as a world-class high-performance and community sports venue,” said President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Sarah Keane.

“I also thank John Foley, Una May, Paul McDermott and Tony Lawless at Sport Ireland and many others within their team for their assistance in making today possible and for the provision of this beautiful office space.”