Ms Nora Stapleton:

I am not sure I have but I will try to answer. It is important to note that until recently, there was no overarching body within Ireland to support referee development other than what the sports do themselves. Sport Ireland coaching has recently taken on the role of helping sports to create the referee pathway. Some of the larger sports have very good pathways in place but, as pointed out by the Chair, they have low numbers of female referees and it varies across each of the organisations. We have not done in-depth research on this but there are fewer female referees than there are those coaching, if, for example, one is looking at ratios of male to female. Through the Women in Sport funding programme of national governing bodies, NGBs, many of those bodies have included particular programmes and initiatives targeting females in umpiring, officiating and refereeing. There are a number of these including everything from hockey through to such sports as table tennis, basketball etc. Many of them offer young referee courses also such as young whistlers, which helps, as Ms O’Connor pointed out, in trying to introduce people to refereeing from a much earlier age. The LGFA, has established its referee academy and the IRFU has plans for that, also. There is work in progress in this space. I mentioned Sport Ireland coaching but it is also piloting a current referee workshop for some of those sports to help curate what a resource might look like to support sports in how they develop their referee pathway.