Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is more an observation than a question. When you look at it, even as I was reflecting on the previous occasion when the referees were in discussing the issues facing them, they were from three male-dominated sports, we did not have anybody from smaller sports which have more female participation and there was no female voice at that committee. From the committee's point of view, it would be positive for us to do our bit and encourage more sports with more active participation by women when sports representatives come in to speak in the committee.

The vast majority of the State funding in Irish sports each year goes to three national governing bodies, NGB. A majority of participants in those three sports are male and a majority of the NGBs themselves are male dominated. Would the Minister of State look at weighting funding for sports more towards female participation because we all accept there is an issue? If there was a greater weighting for female participation, that might help. In hockey, for example, there is significant female participation but they never come in front of the committee to participate. We need to hear from those sports that have more female participation.