Dr. Una May:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and committee members for the invitation to attend and discuss this important topic, which is at the heart of everything Sport Ireland is striving to achieve. I am joined by Ms Helen McHugh, Sport Ireland’s diversity and inclusion manager. I will start by reiterating, as I have done in the past, that Sport Ireland is not a regulator. It is the statutory authority tasked with the development of sport in Ireland. It is tasked with increasing participation in sport, supporting Ireland’s high-performance athletes, operating Ireland’s anti-doping programme, delivering coaching training, and developing the Sport Ireland campus in Blanchardstown, Dublin. Sport Ireland focuses its work on ensuring that Ireland is an active nation where all people are encouraged to participate, progress, and achieve in sport. Inclusion is a core value of the recently published Sport Ireland strategy and of the Government’s national sports policy. The commitment by Sport Ireland to address inequalities in sports participation is highlighted within three key policies, which are its policy on diversity and inclusion in sport, its policy on participation in sport by people with disabilities and its policy on women in sport. These policies are implemented through a range of measures undertaken directly by Sport Ireland, with the NGBs, local sports partnerships, Paralympics Ireland, Special Olympics Ireland, Active Disability Ireland, Age & Opportunity and other key partners.

Sport Ireland promotes inclusion through its diversity and inclusion policy, which was published in May 2022. The implementation of this policy is overseen by Ms McHugh, our full-time diversity and inclusion manager. While it is important to have a dedicated person responsible for leading our work in diversity and inclusion, it is crucial that our approach to inclusion is embedded throughout the organisation. Following the publication of this policy a representative diversity and inclusion in sport advisory group was formed in November of 2022. It assists, advises, and provides guidance to Sport Ireland about its actions regarding the implementation of the policy and the promotion of an inclusive sports sector in Ireland. Sport Ireland recognises that training and education in diversity and inclusion is key to ensuring sport is welcoming and inclusive. One of the high-level objectives in our diversity and inclusion policy is to develop a suite of capacity building and education resources for the sport sector to empower it to cater for the needs of diverse communities at national and club level. In recent weeks, the media has reported on the issue of racism in sport.

I reiterate that, similar to the organisation I lead and represent, I personally condemn racism in any form. It has no place in sport or society.

A wide range of Government funding is invested by Sport Ireland to deliver an inclusive sport sector in Ireland. In 2023, Sport Ireland will invest €10 million in the network of local sports partnerships and €2 million in funding in disability-focused governing bodies in sport. This is an increase in 2022 funding.

Sport Ireland has successfully applied to the European Social Fund programme and has been awarded €11 million for the implementation of a social innovation and inclusion programme over the next five years. Through the women in sport programme, Sport Ireland invested €2 million in 2023 across 50 organisations to support the development and implementation of programmes and initiatives targeting women in sport.

In the area of high performance, Sport Ireland values our Paralympic and Olympic athletes and medals equally and has provided equal funding to para-sport athletes under the international carding scheme since the scheme’s inception in 1999.

Alongside funding, Sport Ireland engages with and works closely with over 60 autonomous national governing bodies, NGBs, in sport to raise awareness of and promote behaviours to uphold best practice and fair play in all sport. In August last, Sport Ireland published a code of conduct template that outlined good practice procedures required of all those who participate in sport.

Sport Ireland tracks and monitors participation of adults and children in sports through our research studies. We have also closely monitored the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic when we saw a drop in sports participation across the board. Some sections of society returned quicker than others. We have seen a widening of the disability gap from 17% in 2019 to 20% in 2022. This is an area we will tackle. However, I am pleased to say that there has been very positive progress in other areas. As regards women in sport, when the sports monitor was first implemented in 2007, the gap in sports participation between men and women stood at 16%. It now stands at 5%. The early indicators from our research in 2023 is that the gap is reducing even further.

Participation in sport remains highest among white Irish people, at 56%, compared with 53% among black people, Asian people or other backgrounds and 51% among people from other white backgrounds.

In the past year, Sport Ireland has undertaken a review of our women in sport policy. We are undertaking a review of our policy on participation in sport by people with disabilities. We have also created a detailed implementation plan to deliver the actions from our diversity and inclusion policy.

Through our continued efforts, Sport Ireland aims to create a sport sector that celebrates diversity, promotes inclusion and is proactive in providing opportunities for lifelong participation for everyone.