Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Regarding our new proposals in the sport action plan, we are ambitious about hitting the 40% target. It is a minimum now around progress when it comes to sporting organisations reflecting broader society but also reflecting their grassroots. With Sport Ireland's women in sport lead and the excellent work of the Federation of Irish Sport, and I know the committee will speak to Mary O'Connor later on, there is significant momentum to provide that leadership support so we achieve that target. As I have said before, there will be financial consequences and penalties for those organisations that do not meet the target. A number of sporting organisations such as Badminton Ireland, Golf Ireland, Gymnastics Ireland, the National Community Games, Special Olympics Ireland, Student Sport Ireland, Swim Ireland, the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Hockey Ireland and the LGFA along with Sport Ireland itself have already hit the target. I could go on. There are organisations that have already made progress, there are some that have made progress to around 30% and there are some that are way off. Soft targets without consequences will not stand anymore.

We want to support the grassroots and the performance system but it is important as organisations that they reflect the people they serve. We will be proceeding with that. We have had soft targets now for a number of years which has resulted in some progress but not enough so I am keen to progress that.

Around the Sports Action Plan 2021-2023 we have sought greater engagement with our education system and the Senator makes a fair point there. There is a level of attrition that happens in teenage years which we need to minimise. On 8 March, Sport Ireland released the Adolescent Girls Get Active research report which focused on that whole area and on how disengagement happens around sport and exercise. That qualitative research is being used to try to bridge the participation and to address the attrition, particularly around the teenage years. We are keen to engage structurally with the Department of Education on that whole area in how we can do much more between sport and education. That is something that is in our sport action plan and on which we will be doing more in the new year.

On the issue of boxing, I know that the Senator may have commented on this in the Seanad yesterday. I am aware of the ongoing issues and I am very concerned with the impact that they are having. There is great concern across many of the clubs and provinces with the effect and impact that the dispute at the governing body is having on grassroots participation in boxing. I engaged on this issue and wrote to the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, IABA, on 3 December expressing my great concern and I have asked it to make every effort working within the wider boxing family to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. It is also important to say, unlike where we are with women’s rugby and the issue which has happened in the past number of days, that we have an independent governance review under way within the IABA, which is important, and was commissioned by Sport Ireland. This is expected to report shortly. There is a structure and process under way to resolve some of the issues and the IABA has been engaging with Sport Ireland on these issues.

As the Senator may be aware, there is a mediation and dispute resolution process under way among some of the members involved in this dispute in boxing and there are therefore two structured processes ongoing around boxing.

I was totally dissatisfied to be contacted by clubs and younger people who wanted to engage in grassroots ordinary competition and the impact of the governing body in displacing ordinary competition is unacceptable and should not happen. I reflected that in my letter to the IABA on 3 December. I wish to state that I have engaged on this issue prior to the Senator raising it himself.