Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and all of our witnesses for this interesting conversation. My notes are a bit scattered here, but I want to pick up on the under-reporting side of this. Do the organisations' representatives think there is under-reporting both internally, within the associations, as well as to An Garda Síochána? There is no need to reinvent the wheel. We see under-reporting of racism to An Garda Síochána and we see under-reporting of homophobia. I was looking at a document and some of the questions that arose were: “Isn't it just something that I have to just put up with?”, “Would I be wasting police time?”, “Would everyone find out about me?” and “What is the point in reporting?”. These are all questions I am sure any referee would ask themselves because it has become so acceptable on the pitch, on the terraces, or on the sidelines to hear this kind of abuse.

Is there under-reporting both internally and to An Garda Síochána? Would the organisations support referees, and Mr. Phillips touched on this in his last comment, if they want to report to An Garda Síochána? Do they inform referees about their rights or the appropriate State agencies? For example, the Immigrant Council of Ireland has a trusted service for reporting racism, if someone might not want to go to the gardaí, or whatever.

There are templates there. I commend the FAI. I was at the cup final in the Aviva stadium in Lansdowne Road, and I saw the "No ref, No game" campaign advertised. I acknowledge that. Deputy Andrews asked if we would see it in League of Ireland grounds as well.

The IRFU called on clubs to include referees in social events. The witnesses should please excuse my ignorance, but I do not know if a referee is associated with a club. I assume not. How would such inclusion happen?

It was mentioned at the outset that politicians know all too well about online abuse, but perhaps less so in person. It is horrific to think that young women and men are literally petrified on a pitch and have to put up with the kind of abuse we get day in, day out online. It is shocking. From my experience of playing, while there are issues concerning abuse, because we are more conscious of the abuse, in some cases it is increasing the amount of respect towards referees and an extra effort is put in by some people on the pitch to thank and acknowledge the referee.

Is the FAI hampered in how it might deal with this culture by FIFA or UEFA? Is the FAI limited in what it can do because of a lack of willingness on the part of FIFA or UEFA to prioritise this? The question could also be asked of the IRFU.