Ms Mary O'Connor:

I thank the Chairperson, Deputies and Senators for inviting the Federation of Irish Sport to make a submission on inclusion in sport. For those who may not be familiar with the work of the federation, we are an independent representative body for 110 sporting organisations across Ireland, including 81 national governing bodies and 29 local sports partnerships, LSPs.

The Federation of Irish Sport's briefing statement on inclusion in sport refers in detail to the various themes and discusses participation in sport, leadership structures, officials, coaches, players and spectators-audiences. Today, our opening statement will broadly touch on these topics and outline recommendations to be considered to further ensure that inclusion in sport in Ireland is enhanced.

One of the core values of the national sports policy is the promotion of inclusion. It states:

Sport must be welcoming and inclusive, offering appropriate opportunities for participation and improvement to all. We will promote inclusion to deliver our desired outcomes focusing on addressing social, disability, gender, ethnic and other gradients.

The accompanying Sports Action Plan 2021-2023 has several dedicated actions on inclusion and participation, including delivering an information campaign highlighting the unacceptability of prejudice, racism, homophobia and all forms of discrimination in sport. In 2020, Sport Ireland commissioned specific research relating to diversity and inclusion in sport. In May 2022, it launched its first diversity and inclusion policy, which expresses its vision for a sports sector that celebrates diversity, promotes inclusion and is proactive in providing opportunities for lifelong participation for everyone.

The policy identified a number of strategic pillars to guide the implementation of the policy. These pillars are change, communication, access, capacity and leadership. It is important that, 12 months on from publication, an update on the outputs of that policy so far be published and in addition, that the evidence from Sport Ireland's Irish sports monitor, which was launched in September 2023 and is a large population study undertaken to provide trends in participation in sport and physical activity in Ireland, be reviewed to ensure targeted actions. For example, in relation to inclusion, the Irish sports monitor revealed that the active sport gradient between women and men is 0.3% higher than it was in 2017; the difference in sports participation rates between people of upper and lower socioeconomic status and people with or without disabilities have increased since 2021 and are the widest on record; the disability gradient was 20% in 2022; and one in ten women who experienced verbal or physical harassment stopped participating in sport, while 39% made changes such as when and where they participated.

The Federation of Irish Sport have made the following recommendations: that funding be provided for NGBs to recruit sport inclusion officers to target inclusion of under-represented groups, which, unlike local sports partnerships, LSPs, are currently excluded from funding; that diversity and inclusion training be undertaken by all professional staff of NGBs and LSPs; that diversity and inclusion training be incorporated into existing coach and official education courses; that all NGBs be supported to use the code of conduct template as an opportunity to review their existing policies and procedures for handling code breaches in respect of abuse towards referees, officials, coaches and players and to help promote good practice within all sport; that action 2.1 of the Sports Action Plan 2021-2023 be commenced to focus especially on delivering an information campaign highlighting the unacceptability of prejudice, racism, homophobia, and all forms of discrimination in sport; and that action 7.2 be commenced for the 2023 sports monitor in order to better understand the barriers for people participating and to refine our understanding of the issues around participation and non-participation.

The federation believes inclusion is about being proactive and enacting actions to make people from all backgrounds, ages and abilities to feel welcome and respected and that they belong in Irish sport and physical activity.