Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide an update in respect of the action plan for sport 2021-2023 and the Government target to have 40% female representation in the board membership of the national governing bodies of sport. [3562/23]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister of State provide an update in respect of the action plan for sport 2021-2023 and the Government target to have 40% female representation on the board membership of national governing bodies of sport?

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Addressing women's participation at all levels in sport is an important element of the national sports policy and a core priority for me, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and the Government as a whole. That includes women in leadership positions such as board members of national governing bodies, NGBs.

The sports action plan sets a target for all NGBs to achieve 40% gender representation on their boards by the end of this year. It is a priority to enable women to take more leadership positions in sport and the 40% target reflects this prioritisation. The most recent board composition snapshot, which was published in December by Sport Ireland, shows that the average percentage of women on boards of national governing bodies of sport has increased from 24% in 2019 to 36% in 2022. For local sports partnerships, the average percentage has increased by 2% over the past year with women accounting for 39% of board members. The snapshot also highlights that 33 sporting organisations have already achieved 40% or more female representation on their boards.

Sport Ireland will continue to provide support to NGBs towards achieving the essential target of 40% and will monitor and report on progress. Achieving the 40% target is one of Sport Ireland's grant funding priorities from this year onwards and the future funding of any NGB that fails to meet the target, by the end of this year, will be impacted. I acknowledge significant effort is being made by sporting bodies around gender diversity on their boards. Good progress has been made by many NGBs towards achieving the 40% target. However, a number of NGBs still have a way to go to meet the target and I encourage them to place a real focus on this task during the year. It is absolutely essential.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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It is true that women have achieved major sporting success as of late but the push for greater gender representation in Irish sport is something in which we all must get involved. I see challenges myself. In Carlow, an issue that constantly comes up is securing female coaches for female teams. Another obstacle is Garda vetting. This is an enormous issue. On the ground there are challenges that mean there are situations in which young women cannot access sports locally because clubs do not have enough women coaches. What else does the Minister of State think we can do to support this on the ground? This is very important.

I welcome the Minister of State's statement. I also have figures to hand. The local sports partnership saw an increase of 2% over the past year, with females accounting for 39% of board members. However, The Irish Timesreported that 17 NGBs have 20% or fewer women on their boards, including the so-called "big three", that is the IRFU with 13%, the FAI with 17%, and the GAA with 20%, as well as the board for Ireland's most successful Olympic sport, the Irish Athletic Boxing Association with only 17%. What else can we do? While I know the Minister of State is doing his best, we need to do more.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is absolutely correct. I want to be clear to all the national governing bodies, including the big national governing bodies that, to be fair, are doing a lot for sport and women in sport. To be clear, the grant funding to those organisations is now closely aligned to our key policies, one of which is the achievement of 40% gender balance with female representation on the boards of NGBs. I have met some of these bodies - not all - and the importance of this has been on my agenda in every conversation I had so far.

This is only one step, albeit a very important step. If this target is not reached, there is no doubt there will be significant funding issues for those NGBs. My officials are beginning discussions with Sport Ireland as to how we do this. There is a range of funding sources from Sport Ireland, the Government, Irish Athletic Boxing Association and all levels that would be affected by this. We must support women in sport at every level; that is a start. However, we have to encourage women and allow them to come up through the ranks in organisations. That will be equally important.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I was reading into this and speaking to woman about it. I know that support is being provided for dedicated leadership training programmes for women, including governance related, technical training, coaching, refereeing and team management. Sport Ireland is supposed to monitor NGB progress against targets and report annually on whether additional measures, such as gender quotas, are warranted.

On the targets, I know the Minister of State will follow up on this. It is important that we encourage the use of targets and that we make sure to meet our targets. We have some of the finest young women in the world who can offer so much. They are so proud of our Irish heritage and love to be involved in the different sports. We must ensure we pay, look after and encourage them. I know the Minister of State is absolutely committed to doing this.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I know the Deputy will be fighting for sports funding for Carlow.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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It would be no harm to remind the national governing bodies that the funding will be dependent on having representation at board level. We must fight for more facilities. Frankly, this summer is going to be like Italia 90, in some respects, with our women's soccer team in the World Cup. Any level of inequality would simply not be tolerated. We have to work to get more facilities because I expect, in soccer at least, that more women will be participating. I know the Deputy will be working hard in Carlow on that. Much works needs to be done. We have not made any decision as to where the significant funding cuts will be if boards do not meet these reasonable targets. I would not propose, nor have we made any decisions, to cut any of the women in sports funds.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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No. Absolutely not.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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That would go against the whole point of it. We have yet to make decisions on that.