Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will move to TRUST Ireland and Ms Carney, and the submission she put forward. In particular I mention the topic of sports and women that she touched on, and the participation of women and girls in sport and physical activity being at significantly lower rates than men and boys. It was done at the outset but I also welcome our witnesses who were at the previous session, Ms Mia Galligan and Ms Mya Doocey, two young students from Navan who are sitting in the Public Gallery and who presented to us just before Ms Carney came, on the issue of female participation in sport.

Ms Carney touched on the lack of female coaches, instructors and leaders in sport relative to the general population. I am a member of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association development committee and it has touched on the fact that they cannot get leaders themselves.

There are still male coaches. One of the points they make is about seeing those pathways. It is frustrating that a ladies' association is struggling with promotion. On TRUST Ireland's work, Ms Carney touched on the prioritisation of male and men's teams access to facilities at prime times. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, who sent a big warning to the main sports in this country that if they do not get their houses in order in respect of that point of prioritisation of access to pitches, they will not get any money. He has been very strong on that and I commend him on it. I have seen female teams across all sports being basically sent to a back training facility and it is fundamentally wrong. No player in Ireland should be subjected to that. On that point, together, all those issues led to what Ms Carney said is lower participation. Is she hopeful that that is changing? Can she see a pathway for that change coming in Ireland?