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

Deputy Andrews raised an important point that has not been raised. Something we need to strengthen - we have a coaching lead within Sport Ireland - is coaching and officiating and broadening the coaching base to include more women from grassroots to high performance. We are trying to increase the number of women officiating and refereeing as well. There is targeted coach education programmes for governing bodies to try and improve that and get greater numbers of women involved in coaching and officiating. It is a key part of the women in sport policy.

In the sports action plan, from a governance perspective, I have set out specific targets in terms of the female leadership of sporting organisations to hit 40% by 2023. There are many sports where there is strong female participation but it is about trying to ensure all sports make progress in this area. Some are better than others. There is considerable focus on this. In much of the core funding from Sport Ireland, the key focus is female participation for all sports. At a grassroots level, we are seeing the impact of that. Certainly, from when I started playing different sports at an age in single digits, there is a definite rebalancing happening on the ground. Deputy Andrews is seeing that. We are all seeing phenomenal participation from girls in clubs, in fact, across all sports. It is about strengthening that. Sport Ireland is focused on this. The impact on indoor sport had a particular effect on female participation where there were greater levels of restriction during the year. However, we are focused on providing that additional support. Through the specific Women in Sport Fund and through local sports partnerships there is direct funding for many sporting organisations and grassroots to strengthen female participation. That is something we are keen to progress in future years.