Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work the Deputy has been doing in this field for many years. When I think of sport, I think of the great opportunities that exist regarding inclusion and breaking down barriers, as the Deputy mentioned. Unfortunately, we also hear appalling stories such as these from time to time. The Deputy listed some of the names of those people who, unfortunately, have had to endure completely unacceptable behaviour, even if that occurs in a minority of cases. My view is that the vast majority of sporting situations are very inclusive and are positive experiences. The types of situations the Deputy described are appalling, unacceptable and need to be stamped out, and our sports policy is very much focused on trying to do that.

One of the elements of the policy that we are keen to progress is to give greater capacity to organisations to deal with problems as they arise at every level and to ensure the personnel who make up those organisations are more broadly representative of our new communities. The key part of this is to try to bring people in and extend a welcome to them in order that they will take part and become mentors in those clubs. That is something we need to work on in the future.

See this speech in context