Dr. Una May:

I am joined by my colleague, Mr. David Gash, our communications and public affairs manager. The committee will have received our full opening statement, but being mindful of the time factor, I will only highlight some of the main points in it. I wish to emphasise Sport Ireland is unequivocal in its stance against abuse, discrimination and inappropriate behaviour at all levels of sport. Sport Ireland works with 66 national governing bodies, NGBs, of sport, their clubs and their 400,000 volunteers, coaches and administrators to develop an effective sport structure. These NGBs, clubs and volunteers are the cornerstone of sport in Ireland. Sport Ireland does not have any direct involvement in the handling of complaints made about abuse and-or discrimination encountered under the auspices of NGBs. NGBs, by their nature, are independent and autonomous organisations and, as such, are responsible for their own policies and procedures in the handling of these.

The majority of referees and match officials are voluntary positions and their safety, welfare and protection is a key priority. Without match officials, our sports cannot take place. As such, it is essential that support and training are provided regularly to ensure it is a worthwhile, rewarding and safe activity. Many NGBs have been proactive in this space, with codes of conduct in place along with sanctions for those found to be perpetrating abuse towards players, officials or referees. This is important as the voluntary construct of sport in Ireland needs to be protected. Volunteering in sport needs to remain an attractive proposition.

With regard to women in coaching, Sport Ireland recently published a Women in Coaching Toolkit, which addresses the barriers that have an impact on women in all aspects of their coaching life. The toolkit identifies sexism and gender-related issues among the barriers and challenges females face in coaching and provides suggested actions and helpful documents to assist with overcoming or addressing those barriers and challenges.

With regard to dispute resolution, all NGBs are expected to have a form of dispute resolution included in their constitution. Many of the larger and professionally led NGBs have their own in-house mechanism for dispute resolution. Sport Dispute Solutions Ireland, a service provided by the Federation of Irish Sport, is supported by Sport Ireland and is the mechanism of choice for many of the other NGBs. All Sport Ireland funded NGBs have updated their constitutions now to include a dispute resolution mechanism in them. While disciplinary processes play a vital role in penalising and dealing with improper behaviour, they are no substitute for education and the fostering of a welcome and open culture within a sport setting.

Turning to the NGB sector, the GAA, the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association, LGFA, and the Camogie Association all utilise the opportunity to report abuse through reporting it in the referee report form, which in turn begins the disciplinary processes for that particular case. The FAI has established a working group to review the regulations of the association with regard to the physical assault of referees and to consider the wider context of abuse of match officials. This group has advised strengthening sanctions and suspensions for abuse to match officials by players and club officials while continuing to showcase their "No Ref. No Game" message at all international fixtures. The IRFU established The Spirit of Rugby programme in 2017 to promote and protect the values of the game. It aims to support players, coaches, volunteers and parents and to educate those within the game about their rights and responsibilities on and off the field. The charter for Irish rugby outlines the values and every member agrees to abide by the charter on registration.

With regard to safety and safeguarding, Sport Ireland’s guiding principles and values for sport for children and young people is that it is fun, safe, inclusive and conducted in the spirit of fair play. A central goal for all involved in children’s sport is to provide a safe, positive and nurturing environment where children can develop and enhance their physical and social skills. It is also important to ensure an example is set for children and young people to ensure they live those values as they grow older and continue to participate in sport and physical activity. The aim of Sport Ireland’s Safeguarding Guidance for Children and Young People in Sport is to help sporting bodies to create a culture of safety that promotes the welfare of children and young people engaged in sporting activities. The guidance document clearly expresses Sport Ireland’s views on the importance of adopting and implementing a suite of policies and procedures, including codes of conduct, disciplinary procedures etc. Sport Ireland advises that each club or organisation should ensure it has adequate disciplinary, complaints and appeals procedures in place.

Regarding codes of conduct, it is noted that codes of conduct are an integral part of any club or sporting organisation. They set a standard of behaviour to help build a club’s culture and make it easier to deal with conduct and behaviour issues as they arise. These can be many and varied, from on-field incidents, sideline abuse and mismanagement to inappropriate social media posts, unfair treatment, poor sportsmanship and more. Codes of conduct set expectations for everyone involved, from the administrators, coaches and officials to players, parents and spectators. The code of conduct should be informed by the club and sporting organisation's risk assessment and be a tool for the management of specific risks. A code of conduct should be in place for administrators, coaches, officials, players and parents. Such codes outline an agreed standard of behaviour for everyone. Sport Ireland has developed a wide range of policy and procedural templates, including sample codes of conduct, which we encourage organisations to take and tailor to suit the needs of their membership. Further examples of work in the NGB sector include the IRFU’s establishment of a behaviours and discipline working group.

With regard to diversity and inclusion, Sport Ireland is committed to combating racism and all forms of discrimination in sport. As part of our work in the area of diversity and inclusion, the development of guidance, resources, toolkits and training and education initiatives will be cornerstone actions in the implementation of a new Sport Ireland policy on diversity and inclusion in sport, which is due to be published in the coming weeks. Sport Ireland recognises the wider societal, structural and systemic challenges faced by marginalised groups in Ireland today. In acknowledging the contribution of sport, as outlined in the national sports policy, Sport Ireland hopes that policy will be the catalyst to removing barriers and eliminating discrimination in sport. Furthermore, Sport Ireland will continue our extensive co-operation across Departments and agencies by contributing to national policies and strategies focused on promoting inclusion and tackling discrimination.

Through its ongoing engagement with funded bodies, Sport Ireland will continue to encourage the highest standards of governance across all facets of the organisations' operations, including ensuring they have adequate policies, procedures and codes of conduct in place, and that these are augmented by appropriate and robust responses and actions.