Dr. Una May:

We are carrying out a review of the gender balance on the boards of all the national governing bodies of sport to establish the current percentages. We have been reviewing our own staff in Sport Ireland in which there is a very high percentage of females. We are happy, therefore, that there is a very good gender balance within the structure of Sport Ireland which can lead by example. There has been a decrease in the gender gap between males and females in participation in sport and we have been investing significantly in programmes for women in the past few years. We have invested nearly €1 million across the national governing bodies and the local sports partnerships to increase the participation of women in sport. This will lead to the development of and improvement in the skills and expertise of females which will then give them the capacity to be better representatives on boards such that it will not be about having a gender quota but about skills and expertise.