Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tennis has shown much leadership in equality, particularly around the majors. It is probably one of the few sports which has shown real equality. I support that as well as those associations in football which are doing that.

The promotion of women's participation in sport is a policy priority for the Government and includes women's football. There has been extraordinary participation in soccer by women and girls which I would love to see continue. It is important to recognise that the FAI and its staff have done excellent work to address the participation gap. There were challenging times in the past 18 months, but funding has been restored to FAI programmes, including those aimed at women and girls.

In the context of the diversity and equality action plans, I would like to see much better equality and diversity on the boards of all of these national governing bodies. That is what Sport Ireland is trying to promote. We saw the Olympic Federation set a 40% target at its annual general meeting. It is a priority for us that we see funding prioritised and greater equality achieved at structural levels.

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