Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs
Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed)
9:30 am
Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source
One of the other barriers to participation in sport, which I have unfortunately learned of both as a public representative for the last 14 years and from having witnessed it personally, is competitive behaviour on the touchline, primarily from parents. It can be a bit of an issue. It is a barrier to certain parents returning. In my experience it is especially the case with women bringing their children to GAA games and, indeed, soccer games and things like that. That is my personal experience. If a child is excluded or removed from the pitch or training ground - primarily the pitch because obviously there would not be much competition on a training ground - it is a bit of an issue. Promoting participation should form part of overarching policies within any sporting code. I am sure the GAA has some code in this regard. Perhaps Mr. Regan would like to drill into it.
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