Ms Helen O'Rourke:

The LGFA is very conscious of the lack of female mentors and female referees and we have very much looked into it in recent years. We ran a very successful leadership programme that included mentoring and officiating at games and bringing young women through that. In many ways it is a confidence thing. Now, as inter-county players and club players retire, we are looking at ways to make it easier for them to get involved, give them the skill sets and education to get involved with teams, and have the confidence to coach teams across all levels. I think it goes right down to the underage levels and if it could start there.

When we looked at this a few years ago, one of the initiatives we started was Gaelic football for mothers and others. We found we had a lot of women who just brought the kids to the gate of a club and left because they did not grow up with ladies' football and knew nothing about the sport. It was not for them at the time so they felt they knew nothing about it. By starting that scheme, it gave them the skills. It is all recreational football. What they do now is they get involved with their local clubs and helping out with the teams there, and through that we get others too.

We also have programmes to bring inter-country players through to the next level where there is mentoring. We have noticed we have had good success at school level and club level with that in recent years. We also see now the odd county manager or county trainer coming through. It is happening and it will be a process but it is also to build that confidence and the education part that goes with it for these women.