Seanad debates

Thursday, 11 May 2023

Report of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media: Statements

 

9:30 am

Photo of Jerry ButtimerJerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, to the House. I also welcome friends of Deputy Matthews from St. Cronan's Boys National School in Bray, County Wicklow. I met them earlier in the corridor and they are all very welcome. They are wonderful ambassadors for their school and I thank them for being here today.

The Minister of State has ten minutes, group spokespersons have eight minutes and other Senators have five minutes. The Minister of State will be called to reply at the end of the debate.

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Táim an-sásta a bheith anseo leo inniu chun plé a dhéanamh ar an ábhar ríthábhachtach seo. I condemn any form of abuse in sport, including online abuse, racism, discrimination or inappropriate behaviour towards anyone involved in sport. Referees, officials and players are an integral part of our sporting structure and deserve to be respected for the important role they play in sport. Abuse of officials or players is wrong and should not be tolerated. Everybody involved in sport deserves to be treated with respect and should not feel unsafe or threatened from their officiating or participating in games.

I am concerned that despite some genuine efforts of sporting organisations to address the issue, we are continuing to see incidents of abuse and violence aimed at referees and officials. What concerns me, in particular, is that we are seeing a great deal of this - by no means all of it - at underage games. A very large number of referees and officials are volunteers and without them most sports could not operate effectively or, indeed, survive.It is important that sporting organisations across all sports provide a safe environment for referees, officials, and players, and where abusive and threatening behaviour is aimed at them, appropriate action must be taken. I urge all clubs and sporting bodies to ensure that referees, officials and players are respected. Each of the field sports promotes respect programmes within the sports. Sporting organisations must lead the way and ensure that respect remains part of the culture of sports. Where abuse does occur, sporting bodies must take action and use the disciplinary procedures and sanctions that exist within their organisation to ensure that those responsible are held to account.

I note the sanctions that were handed down by the GAA in recent weeks following an alleged assault on an official at an underage hurling match in March. I hope the suspensions and fines that have been imposed will act as a deterrent against similar incidents in the future, but more needs to be done.

I want to clarify that Sport Ireland's oversight role relates to governance and national governing bodies, NGBs. It does not have a direct role across discipline and violence. This is the serious responsibility of national governing bodies in relation to their sports. They are independent, they are autonomous organisations, and they all have their own policies and procedures in this regard. I accept that sporting organisations are working hard to address this issue. On Tuesday, I convened a meeting with the leaders of the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, GAA and Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU, along with the CEO of Sport Ireland, for a discussion on how best to tackle violence and racism in sport. We had a very constructive discussion, and I hope this will continue, in preventing racism and violence from occurring in sport, and to see what we do when it happens. I am grateful to the organisations and to Dr. Una May for the valuable input at that meeting.

As a sporting community, it is essential that we show there is no place for violence and racism in sport. Sport fosters a great sense of belonging in our communities and we must never allow incidents of racism and violence to undermine the positive power of sport. I acknowledge that significant integration of ethnic minorities and immigrants into this country is happening through our sports organisations. This deserves to be acknowledged in all of our concerns about certain incidents that are happening.

I have urged to put in place whatever measures are needed in this regard. There were some interesting elements of good practice from sports bodies, which I believe could be shared around. The message from me is that there should be zero tolerance for racism and violence, that sports organisations should use whatever disciplinary procedures they have, and that referees should feel empowered to use the rule book to its full extent. I have seen this happen in a number of games recently, which is positive, but referees should also feel empowered by their NGBs.

Integrity and ethics in sport is an important area of focus for Sport Ireland. Sport Ireland is planning to provide guidance for NGBs on the best approach in this area. As we have said, while they have overall responsibility for this, I accept that it is important the Government and Sport Ireland also take whatever actions we can to ensure that integrity as a value and behaviour is evident across all levels of sport. Codes of conduct are an integral part of any club and sporting organisation. Codes of conduct can set standards of behaviour. Codes of conduct can set out expectations for everybody involved, from administrators, coaches, officials to players, parents and spectators. To help sporting bodies tackle the issue relating to codes of conduct, officials in Sport Ireland are convening a working group that is developing a national code of conduct template across Irish sport. We expect progress on that in relatively near order. Sporting organisations can then use the template code of conduct to promote good practice within their sport. This is an important action that will greatly help sporting bodies to address the issue of abuse of referees and officials. I have asked Sport Ireland to progress this work as quickly as possible. Sport Ireland is working on finalising the membership of the working group, and it expects the working group to be in place next week. The work will be completed in a short timeframe and I have been informed that the template will be available by the end of May.

I urge all NGBs of sport to use the template to develop a code of conduct appropriate to their sport, along with ensuring that disciplinary procedures and sanctions are used when necessary. The development of a code of conduct for each sport will be a positive step towards eliminating abuse.

I had mentioned briefly the sports capital programme, and it has come up in this particular context. Members will be aware of the programme, which the programme for Government commits to continuing. Members have asked about the timing of the next round. A full review has been undertaken and we hope to publish that review very shortly. It is basically ready to go and I believe it will be published in the coming days. One of the issues under consideration is whether adherence to the code of conduct for the elimination of abuse towards match officials should be considered when future sports capital allocations are made. It is certainly something we can look at in the future. One of the difficulties I have with the sports capital programme at the moment is that there is a computer programme, the online sports capital register, OSCAR, system, which Members will be familiar with, but it is coming to the end of its life and perhaps we will get one more round out of it. There will be a lot more scope to make these types of changes in future rounds. It is certainly something we are going to look at.

In recent times, online abuse has become an increasing concern. This is not acceptable and while it is not unique to sport, it cannot be tackled in isolation in relation to sport. The Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill was enacted in December 2022 and the new media regulator, which is Coimisiún na Meán, was formally established in March. Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland's new authority with responsibility for overseeing the regulation of broadcasting and video on-demand services. It includes the new regulatory framework for online safety. The commission will be responsible for developing online safety codes with the aim of reducing the risk of the exposure of users to harmful online content. In this context, harmful online content may relate to material under one or more categories of content as outlined in the Act. One such category relates to online content linked to an existing offence in Irish law. On this basis, online safety codes will be aimed at reducing the availability of online content by which someone sends a threatening or grossly offensive communication to another person, contrary to a relevant offence under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, among other offence specific and non-offence specific content. This is very important and will have an impact on sport as well.

I assure the House that the Department and I will continue to work closely with support Ireland and other stakeholders. We had a meeting this week with the three main organisations. We will have meetings with referees and with other sports bodies and with the Federation of Irish Sport in the coming weeks. We will continue to engage on this to stamp this out. There is definitely evidence of good practice in some sports and there is a lot we can do to spread that to all sports to get rid of this, quite frankly, and to absolutely eliminate it in underage sport. When people did the analysis, that was the one shocking thing about this. There is a huge volume of this affecting underage players and their coaches, and referees on pitches. Some of the online abuse has been directed at underage players. This is absolutely outrageous given the harm it can do. I look forward to hearing what Seanadóirí have to say. It is an ongoing process but one we will continue to work on and not just talk about.

Photo of Mark DalyMark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Seanad today on this important topic. As he outlined, the incidence of this in underage sport is unacceptable. I thank Senator Cassells for his great work on this topic, and for the report that he and the committee have put together. It is important that recommendations and the issues raised in it are addressed. I thank the Minister of State for his important contribution.

Photo of Shane CassellsShane Cassells (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his words. I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for sport and physical education. It is great to have the Minister of State in the Chamber, and it is even better because he comes from County Meath.

He mentioned sports capital grants. Their significance is recognised by all of us as not just something positive for the sports clubs that become the recipients of the funding but also for the wider community. They have such a positive legacy. The programme is one of the great initiatives from Government. I look forward to working with the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, and his Department to ensure we get the most from the funding that is available, and ensure that participation levels in sport, and particularly in minority sports, are increased as a result of this investment.

Sport has been in the headlines all of this week, on the front pages more than the back pages, in articles pertaining to broadcasting rights and the GAA. There has certainly been a lot of ball hopping on around this issue. At yesterday's meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, I was glad that after a very championship-like debate we came to a position where one sports organisation was not being singled out for attention or scrutiny by politicians.If we get into a sphere where politicians are dictating what matches are shown on television, it will be bad for democracy and the body politic if we think we should be directing the TV schedules. With the height of respect for our Taoiseach, when I hear him saying the important games should be on the telly, I will not ask for his views on what the important matches are at the weekend. I am glad the GAA, the IRFU, the FAI and the broadcasters have all been invited to the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, following a proposal by Senator Malcolm Byrne, to have a discussion about the future of sports broadcasting in Ireland. We will leave the matter at that level.

The Minister of State is before the House to discuss the committee's report on the abuse of officials. When one thinks back, we started this process at Christmas 2021. In November 2021, 550 games in the north Dublin schoolboy and schoolgirls league were cancelled because of a strike by referees due to the consistent abuse of referees in schoolboys and schoolgirls' football. We have to think about that. It goes to the root and the heart of the matter here. There is abuse of officials at children's football matches. We have young children in the Gallery today. Imagine that there is abuse by adults who should no better but do not. That particular incident shone a spotlight on this issue and led to the compilation of this report and the recommendations within.

It grieves me to think that a year and a half on, we are not in a better position. In fact, one might say we are in a worse one given that even in the past couple of weeks, Louth referees in the Louth and Meath district league went on strike because of an extremely serious incident where a referee was kung fu kicked by a player who was captured on camera doing so. The bans handed out were so weak that the referees felt they were not being protected and went on strike. We had GAA referees in Kilkenny who conducted a four-day strike because of sustained abuse of their officials. It goes to the heart of the problem that there is a culture problem in this country among players and supporters in respect of officials. I am glad the Minister has taken such an initiative to bring representatives of the pillar sports into her offices this week to engage with them. The administrators of the game need this to change because they realise not only that the strikes by officials will accelerate but that there is not a hope of attracting young referees in to fill the void when others move on. The codes of conduct the Minister of State spoke about are very important.

The committee made many recommendations and the report alludes to them. I am not going to go through them all. The Minister of State touched on one, the stick approach proposed by Mary O'Connor from the Federation of Irish Sport. Ms O'Connor is a multiple all-Ireland champion in both codes so she is grounded in sport. She spoke of erecting codes of conduct on the entrance to grounds for those who have been in receipt of State funding. She also said that egregious breaches of those codes of conduct should lead to the clubs in question being temporarily suspended from applying for sports capital grants. One might ask what such breaches might be. Where a player kung fu kicks a referee and leaves him in hospital, that is a very clear breach. I have heard the Minister of State say publicly that these are also criminal matters in which An Garda Síochána will become involved. This is where we are going because it is not acceptable for young children to see that kind of behaviour by adults on the field.

The Minister of State also noted that the abuse of officials and players online is now just as serious. Words matter. We know the weight of words in these Chambers. Words matter and online abuse is abhorrent. The president of the GAA sat in the ministerial chair just two weeks ago. He has made it one of the hallmarks of his presidency to call out this behaviour. He does not have legislation at his disposal but what he has is the moral authority to call out those who purport to be fans or supporters of sport but go online and abuse our players and referees. As the Minister of State has said, the Oireachtas did huge work on the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 so that Coimisiún na Meán and the commissioner will be able to hold to account the platforms on which these people are afforded an opportunity to spew their vile. They will be held accountable because the major tech providers on social media have failed in their own codes of conduct. We are relying, therefore, on people such as Larry McCarthy, as well as the FAI and the IRFU, to call out instances where legislators have failed - although we are at least addressing the issue - and the tech companies have certainly failed to protect ordinary innocent people, in particular amateur sports people as well. Working with the Minister of State, I hope we can continue to call that out.

We are a sporting country. We are not just about the three main sports. In compiling our report, the committee worked with Hockey Ireland, the Volleyball Association of Ireland, Cricket Ireland and the Irish Judo Association. It was frightening to think that they all reported levels of abuse among minority sports. All of them have shown a willingness to tackle this issue, however. We do not want to see the report parked today. When we launched it, we did not want to see the report ignored. The reason I call for this debate is to keep this issue front and centre and keep it alive in the public consciousness. Unfortunately, it has been kept alive because a year and a half on, those breaches and attacks, both physical and online, are still occurring. We need to make it stop; we need to call a halt. I am glad the Minister of State is taking the lead in that respect.

Photo of Micheál CarrigyMicheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is very welcome. As Senator Cassells has said, this report came on the back of a strike that took place a number of years ago. Our children would not get to participate in sport if such a strike were to continue. The detail and evidence the committee was given by the various sporting organisations were stark.

This issue affects more than just the three main pillar sports. If we delve into the matter, we see that in basketball 47 reports were made over the three-year period between 2017 and 2019, with 115 reports made in camogie and 58 made in hockey in the same period. What was startling was the finding that prior to December 2021, 74% of soccer and underage soccer referees reported being verbally abused. I believe those figures are slightly skewed because I do not believe the vast majority of referees report abuse within their own organisation. That is an issue that needs to be tackled and I know that from experience. Years ago, I served as an official in the GAA. I also played GAA and I actually refereed one match. Unfortunately, I got a certain amount of verbal abuse and decided that refereeing was not for me. I served as an umpire for about ten years at national league level and I am still involved as an official in my local club. The reality is that a vast majority of the verbal abuse at games is not reported by the referees. That needs to change.

The organisations themselves then need to implement strict codes of conduct within their clubs and county boards and up through their structures. They must impose penalties on those who are guilty of this behaviour. If all clubs in the country in the various sports looked at how they deal with it, they would probably find they are not tackling it in as strongly as they should.

There are a number of strong recommendations in the report. The proposal to have a sports ombudsman working with the Federation of Irish Sport is a very strong one and deserves serious consideration. As Senator Cassells said, Ms Mary O'Connor proposed an idea with regard to the sports capital grants programme. I would be fully in favour of that. Any organisation that does not implement a strong code of conduct should be excluded from applying to the programme and any club whose members are found guilty of an offence of this nature should be barred from applying for State funding. We need to take a strong line on that.

We had a good discussion on online abuse when the Seanad discussed the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill.One of the recommendations I asked to be put into that Bill was that Coimisiún na Meán would engage with the various sporting organisations, and that was taken on board. I think the Minister of State is meeting this week with the sporting organisations as part of us as a Government engaging, but Coimisiún na Meán needs to engage with every sporting organisation and make sure that the recommendations of that Bill are implemented in the code of conduct of every single sporting organisation in the country. If sporting organisations do not adhere to that, we should ensure that the organisations within that code will not be eligible to apply for sports capital funding.

I will deviate slightly. Senator Cassells mentioned at the beginning that sport has been to the fore in recent days, in particular with regard to GAAGO and the promotion of sport, which is important. I welcome the proposal from Senator Malcolm Byrne that we have a discussion on the broadcasting and promoting of sport because it is only by promoting and broadcasting the various sports that we will keep children involved and get more children into the minority sports as well, which is important. This is something I feel very strongly about. Many politicians from various parties, and various party leaders, including mine, and including the Tánaiste, have commented on this. The reality is that the sport of the GAA is not about one particular code involving two counties. GAA is Gaelic football, hurling, rounders, handball and Scór. Thirty-two counties play both codes in particular. All those sports are played throughout the country. We have Warwickshire, Lancashire, London and New York involved. As I said, it has been highlighted in recent days, but we have to take into consideration all counties involved, and when we are identifying the free-to-air we have to identify the provincial finals as a priority. If the Galway-versus-Sligo Connacht final was taken off free-to-air in lieu of a round-robin Munster hurling championship last week, that is not fair on the two counties of Galway and Sligo, which work just as hard in the promotion of Gaelic games within their counties.

I look forward to the discussion. Senator Malcolm Byrne proposed that we have a discussion about broadcasting of all sports and look at all media because the reality is that we need more participation in sports throughout the country.

If I may just touch on the sports capital programme, the Minister of State said that this may be the last time the OSCAR system is used. I have applied for such funding for my club on a number of occasions. With regard to the provision of sporting facilities throughout the country, will we be identifying where there is a lack of facilities in certain areas and in certain sports and prioritising them ahead of other applications? I am involved in my county. We are one of the very few that has no outdoor athletics track. I know the Department was looking at an app whereby it would have all this on board to know where these facilities are not in place-----

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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It will be ready in a couple of months.

Photo of Micheál CarrigyMicheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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That is good to know and, as I said, that will link in with the sports capital application.

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Yes. That is the next stage.

Photo of Micheál CarrigyMicheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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Yes. That is coming in order that we look at, as I said, identifying and prioritising where there is the lack of facilities. We have had discussions previously about the likes of hockey. We have qualified for world cups in the sport yet I think that in the whole province of Connacht we might have one outdoor hockey pitch. That is where we need to be looking at prioritising those facilities. I am delighted to hear that that will happen.

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The audit will be focused on this summer.

Photo of Micheál CarrigyMicheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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Perfect. That is good to know. I thank the Minister of State for that.

It is important we have this discussion. I welcome the Minister of State's coming here and making sure that this report is not left on the shelf. It needs to be implemented. As I said, I ask that the Department contact Coimisiún na Meán and make sure that that engagement and conversation with the sporting organisations with regard to online abuse begins and that we make sure that every sporting organisation implement this within its code of conduct. Ahead of the new programme coming out, I would fully support those who do not adhere to that or do not implement that code of conduct not being eligible for sports capital funds.

Photo of Fintan WarfieldFintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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I thank all the sporting bodies that contributed to the sessions and thank the secretariat of our committee, which put in a lot of work, as always, on this report. The committee has put forward a genuine vision for sport that is one of inclusion, fair play and good conduct.

I acknowledge the role of referees. They do a really important job. Many of us would not do that job, and that is why there is such a struggle for referees. As the report says, it is not just a reputational issue for sports; the committee has advanced the view that, more urgently, this is an issue of ensuring the physical and mental well-being of every person who participates in sport. I play soccer. I do not want to play for a team that gives the referee dog's abuse, and it saddens me that soccer is one of the worst for abuse of referees. We could all learn something from rugby in that regard. I welcome the fact that we heard from minority sports and smaller sports as well, and there are issues there. I think that hurling abuse at referees from the terraces and the stands is deemed so acceptable - and almost everyone does it to varying degrees - that when we get to the Phoenix Park or the local pitch at the weekend, it seems acceptable there too. People who abuse referees in amateur games, however, particularly underage games, need to get a grip. I was at a League of Ireland game recently and heard bad homophobia from a child. It goes to show that children listen and language is important.

I commend the referees who go on strike. I also think that a 12-month suspension is not enough. If someone assaults a referee, which is just incredible, he or she should have a lifetime ban from that sport. It is completely unacceptable because not only is it an assault on the referee, it also puts everyone else off participating in that sport.

There is a welcome political focus on this issue now. There are some good recommendations in the report, including the sports ombudsman and things we can do around grants that should be considered by the Minister, and I encourage him to do so. As I said, though, there is a welcome political focus on this now, and this is an opportunity to implement some lasting change here.

Photo of Mark WallMark Wall (Labour)
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I too welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is a very important and timely discussion we are having. I also thank the members of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media for producing this report because it is a conversation we need to have. I will talk in my contribution about a conversation we need to have around the kitchen table in every house in this country. That is what we are trying to achieve here and something the committee has done very well in preparing such a report. The Minister of State is here with us today, and we as Members of the Seanad are getting a chance to talk about the report.

As a lifetime participant in a number of sports, I share the concerns the committee has raised in its report. I have played up to intercounty level and have coached ladies' and gents' teams and, unfortunately, and all too commonly now, we see the level of abuse towards officials and referees rising throughout Ireland. It is causing serious problems for the administration of sport in this country. That has to be a concern for Deputy Byrne as Minister of State with responsibility for sport. It is definitely a concern for me as a public representative, and I know that concern is shared right throughout these Houses when I have conversations with other public representatives about the damage being done to sport in this country by the abuse week in, week out. Colleagues today have mentioned that referees have had to take strike action in order to highlight the abuse, so I welcome the fact that we are having this conversation.

As other Members have said, last week we had a conversation with the GAA president, Larry McCarthy, when he was in the House. What we are talking about here are volunteers. Larry McCarthy, as uachtarán, was at pains to point out that we are dealing with volunteers in the main. Yes, a referee may get €40 for refereeing a match, but the officials who are with him get little or nothing at all unless, maybe, they are at intercounty level.We depend on those volunteers. They are the ones getting the torrent of abuse week in and week out. Nothing can justify the level of abuse that exists. I agree with what Senator Carrigy said. I have spoken to many referees in different codes. Many of them have got to the point now where they say to themselves that they will not bother reporting the amount of abuse that exists. I think it is very much under-reported. The code of conduct that the Minister of State referred to needs to encourage referees. I would put the call out again, as others have today, that we need to encourage referees to report this abuse. The Minister of State is on record as mentioning that the level of abuse needs to be taken on board by An Garda Síochána as well. I support that measure because that is how we need to stamp it out. If people are getting the level of abuse that we have seen, heard and read about on social media then we will be in a position where we will not have young referees coming through. This is something that I have had to deal with in a number of clubs.

I have seen young referees targeted with abuse at under-age, juvenile matches. Many of them have just stopped and we cannot blame them. At present it appears to be the case in the minds of many people that referees and officials seem to be fair game. This has got to stop and the code of conduct is essential in this regard. I welcome the fact that the Minister of State has led in that this week and I will talk a bit more about it in a moment.I just want to go back to the "around the kitchen table" conversation that I believe needs to happen. In conjunction with me, my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, has tabled some parliamentary questions on this matter. The Government, in association with the governing bodies of sports, needs to launch a national campaign in relation to abuse and what is happening at the moment. It needs to have that conversation around the table to enable people to call this abuse out before they actually quit volunteering. This was touched on by the uachtarán of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael when he addressed the Seanad last week. He stated:

While national publicity campaigns are appropriate, it is at the individual and club levels that we need to deliver the message that any form of disrespect to referees is unacceptable. That should begin with the individual but is also important for the mentors of under age players to show respect for officials.

That is why I am calling again for a Government-led response to this and we have a national campaign. The Minister of State has met the governing bodies this week and I hope that was part of the conversation. I referred to parliamentary questions about this matter and the Minister of State mentioned a question that was tabled at the end of March and he talked about examining what horizontal actions could be taken to address the issues. He outlined that Sport Ireland has plans to a working group of key stakeholders to develop a national code of conduct template across Irish sport. The Minister of State also mentioned that the working group will commence shortly. I am glad that he said the working group will be up and running next week because that is a very important reply and I welcome the fact that he has done so. This intervention is essential for sport in this country. When the president was here I mentioned the hypothetical scenario that we are all going to Croke Park to see Kildare play in an all-Ireland final against Meath or whoever. We are all there and the players are on the pitch and suddenly the referee is not there. That is the scenario we need to show the people who are abusing officials, that suddenly all those supporters have to go home again without seeing a match. No one wants to contemplate that and this is why I am seeking a national campaign.

I have mentioned before through media the silent sideline concept and which I am sure the Minister of State is familiar with. It works in certain sports. When I have mentioned this before, I have been accused of making games duller etc. I do not think a game will be dull if the silent sideline concept is used. I think young people who need encouragement should be encouraged but we need to stamp out the abuse of officials and that is where the silent sideline comes in. Clubs themselves should be calling out the abuse of officials. They are not calling out the mammies and daddies who are encouraging during their youngsters to play sport but they are calling out of the abuse of officials, which is essential.

Regarding the recommendations of the report to the committee, the ombudsman is essential. We all know the physical and mental health benefits that derive from playing sport for recreation. An ombudsman is an essential part of the equation I welcome the fact that the committee has recommended such and I hope the Minster of State will take that on board. I have already spoken about the working group and again, I thank the Minister of State for taking that on board. It is essential to bring in the governing bodies and to establish that code of conduct.

We all know about the phenomenon of the online warrior in political life, but I am seeing it more and more in sporting life as well. This is where county and club teams, officials and referees are getting abused week in and week out. I welcome that the committee has included a point on this, that through the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, action will be taken on this. The social media companies have a huge role to play here as well. They need to identify these people, call them out and close them down quickly. It is the "quickly" part that is not happening at the moment. These people are getting oxygen and they are doing it day in, day out and week in, week out, after every match and we all know who they are.

The linkage of the sport capital is a very interesting idea and I think it is something I could support with a code of conduct because I think it is essential.

Senator Carrigy touched on sports facilities earlier. The uachtarán mentioned it in his address and I am hearing more and more about the lack of facilities in many areas. Integration of the GAA with camogie and with ladies' football is going to necessitate more facilities. I am hearing a lot about this. We need to look at a local authority-led area where we identify 13 to 50 acres in each major town so that we have extra playing facilities. I hope this is something I can talk to the Minister of State about again because that is where we need to get to.

I welcome the fact that an app is being produced. The lead of the local authorities is essential for us to maintain and build sports. In conclusion, we are having an essential conversation. Sport is essential to the Irish psyche and I thank the committee for its work.

Photo of Malcolm ByrneMalcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this debate and for his to date on this report. As colleagues have mentioned, we have worked in a highly collegial way in producing this report and its 11 recommendations. They were built on discussions we had with the sporting bodies, referees and representatives of players. They are intended to be constructive and I acknowledge the Minister of State has taken them on board and has met the sporting organisations this week.

Sport is inclusive; it is meant to be fun. When we are talking about sports here, we would like to be talking about how we get more people involved in sport because it is good for health and good for building communities. It is correct to say that a lot of the sports organisations have done a lot in this space. It is important that we talk about their role in integration. I think of the Gorey Cricket Club, for instance, which not alone involves people from our own local community but actively involves people from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India. These are countries where cricket is a religion, even more so than the GAA in parts of Ireland. I look at my local park run or the work that is done by Croghan Athletic Club, my local athletic club in bringing people of all backgrounds and nationalities to participate.

Part of what we also need to do is to showcase those good examples and those organisations where a culture of respect is built up. Senator Warfield was right when he talked about the IRFU and rugby clubs telling their players and supporters about a culture of respect for the referee and for others. That has to apply across all sporting codes. We published this report nearly a year ago and since then, we have seen incident after incident of abuse on the pitch and online. We are all aware of the very prominent case of the abuse of the Wexford sporting legend Lee Chin at a charity game. He was subjected to racist abuse and I am glad that the GAA took tough action. The RTÉ sports pundit, Ursula Jacob, who is also from Wexford, has spoken about the levels of online abuse she has received. Unfortunately, we continue to hear these messages coming from people who are brave enough to speak out about the abuse they are receiving.

The concern I have, which has been echoed by others here, is the message that is being sent out to young people. This is continuing and is in some way acceptable and we are seeing it at young people's games, but also then about how difficult it is going to be to attract officials and people to referee. We met at committee level with a number of the sporting organisations. When we met the FAI referees, I was surprised to be told that two thirds of referees were leaving within two years of completing the referees' beginners course. These are people who volunteered to help with the game and become a referee. Within two years they have had enough. If we do not take it seriously and tackle the pitch-side and online abuse of those involved in the games, then we will continue to lose very good people.

There were clear recommendations here, which I believe we have taken on board with the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022. I suggest that the Minister of State's office should engage the newly-appointed Online Safety Commissioner to look also with engaging with the tech companies around how we can tackle some of the online abuse that exists. We were clear that we wanted powers for the Online Safety Commissioner to investigate online abuse.We need to apply pressure to a number of the social media platforms. Whatever about the abuse that may be hurled at people on the pitch, if they then go home and pick up their smartphone and it continues, that disincentivises people from continuing in sport.

We need to have all those positive messages. People spoke about messages on the positivity of sport in respect of various clubs as people enter the ground; we need the stick as well. In terms of a review of any of the sporting programmes, that would very clearly include the sports capital programme and while the national governing bodies are clear about taking action, it has to go right down to club level.

It is not just about responding to incidents. It is about being proactive about having a culture of respect and encouraging players to tackle abuse. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that we link funding to sports capital programmes to ensure codes are in place and that action is taken by clubs. I commend the Minister of State on his work. I know he has cross-party support in doing this. Sport is fun and inclusive; we have to keep that message out there.

Photo of Maria ByrneMaria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming here today to discuss this all-important issue. I wish to pay tribute to the committee that published this report. I acknowledge the amount of work that was involved. I congratulate my friend and neighbour, Ms Joy Neville, the only female referee from Ireland who has been selected to attend the Rugby World Cup. It is a great honour for Joy, her wife, Simona, her son Alfie, and the extended Neville and Coppola families.

I looked at social media this morning, however, and there were some abusive comments regarding the fact that a female referee is going to the men's Rugby World Cup. It is totally unacceptable. The thrust of this report is about respect and dignity and how referees should be treated with the same level of respect we all expect. Joy spoke out quite openly last year about the amount of abuse she was getting. She was acting as a television match official, TMO, at a match and questioned whether a try was, in fact, a try. England lost the try over that decision and Joy received much abuse afterwards. It was not just abuse towards her, however, but also to her family. It called out her sexuality and her family circumstances. That is totally unacceptable.

I totally agree with what Senator Malcolm Byrne said regarding the person responsible for digital safety who has been brought in. There needs to be collaboration between the Minister of State's Department and that online digital safety person. Certainly, it is something that needs to be looked at quite closely.

I am well known in County Limerick and Munster for being an avid supporter of sport right across different spheres. It is not just rugby that I follow; I follow GAA and boxing among others. To see the level of abuse people receive, especially referees, which then extends to family members, is really concerning. While it is very difficult to tackle, it needs to be looked at quite closely.

Hockey is another sport I follow. We are very lucky in Limerick to have some members on the women's international hockey team. However, we saw an issue where a high-profile men's hockey team made derogatory comments about a player from the opposition team. Those kinds of things are totally unacceptable. If club players step out of line, they need to be held responsible. Clubs need to take sanctions. While some of them have suspended players or given them warnings, this needs to be watched more and more. Seanad colleagues are correct to say that it does not encourage people to become referees or get involved. Sport is something in which we are encouraging our youth to participate and families to get involved. Sport is very much associated with families. To see that abuse, not only online but in-person both on and off the pitch, is totally unacceptable. It stops families from going to a match. I recall attending a provincial match in which two provinces were playing. Some of the supporters of the winning team threw some very derogatory comments towards the team that was losing. There were people there with young children who said they would never take their children to a match again. That is the last message we need to go out. I thank the Minister of State for his work to date in terms of tackling this issue. A number of recommendations in the report are very worthwhile. The Minister of State has my full support with regard to this report and his ongoing work.

Photo of Mark DalyMark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I thank colleagues for their contributions. One of the suggestions was with regard to sports capital funding. The issue of code of conduct was also mentioned. One of the lessons from other codes of conduct and initiatives is that if it is not being measured, it is not being done. We have an annual report in terms of how much abuse is reported by referees to make sure we are tracking what is actually happening on the pitch. Referee reports are lodged and, therefore, we need to make sure sporting bodies put a spotlight on what is happening on the field every year and not just when an incident happens and becomes the subject of national debate and then moves on. If we manage to track incidents across all sports then behaviours will change and rules will be brought in to give effect to what Members, members of the public and the Minister of State have been concerned about.

I ask the Minister of State to respond to the debate.

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senators for all their contributions. I certainly will consider some of the suggestions carefully. I thank Senator Maria Byrne for mentioning Ms Joy Neville and note Ms Maggie Farrelly in the GAA is in a similar position. She appeared on television the other night. I spoke to her at the start of the week about some of the issues she and her colleagues have faced. It is important that we listen to referees and I will be doing that as part of this process.

My two sons play in the north Dublin schoolboys league. Many of the east Meath teams play in that league. One of the big issues was with that league and the metropolitan girls league. It is a great organisation but the referees said they had enough. Senator Wall mentioned silent sidelines and, yes, there is certainly merit in considering that, although it is difficult. I have to say, however, that there is absolutely no reason for any parent to communicate with the referee during a game. I do not see why that should be allowed in any form, particularly in an underage game. There are degrees of it when people go to stadium games but there should be no communication from parent to referee in any form in an underage game. Communication from coach to referee should also be limited to particular times. We will have to look at this as well. This is something we need to take seriously.

I have listened carefully to what Senators said about sports capital. I am probably limited in what I can do in this round. Other measures have been suggested as well, however, such as banning home fans from the next game, which happened recently in one particular club. There is another sport, which is not one of the big sports, during which if a person in any way contradicts the referee, he or she is sent off. Again, sports organisations can consider all of these issues. I hope the code of conduct, which will be ready shortly, will provide a template to do this.

Senator Wall mentioned the facilities audit, which is also relevant. That is being done by Sport Ireland at the moment. It will be ready in a couple of months. Its representatives are literally going aground the country mapping. As I understand it, it will not so much be an app as an online map of where all our facilities are. As the Senator said, we will be able to see that there is no running track or athletics field in County Longford or wherever. That is the information we want to get out there. I was talking to the chief executive at the weekend about that. The Senator's idea is not a bad one either.

I have already arranged for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and I to meet on the issue of sport facilities in the coming weeks. Our officials have already met. That is something we can put on the agenda. I want more ownership in that regard. In many of the commuter belt areas, such as those in which Senator Wall and I live, it is difficult to get land. Indeed, in the city centre of Dublin it is impossible in some areas to find places. There is really good practice in some local authorities and we need to learn from that.

Zero tolerance on racism and violence has to happen.We need to make sure that this message goes out loud and clear. We need to make sure our sporting games are places of joy and happiness. While they can be places of competition when kids reach a certain age, that has to be a competition where kids know they will win some and they will lose some. That message needs to go out loud and clear. When has a referee ever actually changed his or her decision? It is a waste of time to complain. They do not change decisions. We should get that mentality into kids as they grow up; that you just do not do it. As I said, in some sports you can be sent off for challenging the decision. If we could get that message out it would be a bit of a foundation for this.

Clearly, however, there have been much more serious incidents. I am glad the strong message I had about An Garda Síochána is getting across as well. While I do not want to get into specific incidents, there are Garda investigations under way. People need to know that this will happen in the future. Referees need to know, as they did in the terrible incident involving Senator Malcolm Byrne's county hero, Lee Chin, where that the match was abandoned, as I understand it, by the referee and the players. People took action because they felt it was the right thing to do, which it was. It sent a strong and positive message. As for the racism that is there, I repeat that our sports have been and can be extraordinary vehicles of integration for people of ethnic minority backgrounds in this country. I can only see that flourishing to a great degree. Every single sporting organisation is in that space. I very much welcome that. We are going to continue this and we need to keep highlighting it. However, there is no use in all of us standing up here every time there is an incident and condemning it. Yes, of course we condemn it but we also need to make sure that we as a Government are taking the appropriate action to be sure we can stamp it out, move it on for good and enjoy the sports that we have. I look forward to a summer of sport and a summer of good, healthy activity, participation and, where it is appropriate, competition.

Photo of Mark DalyMark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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When is it proposed to sit again?

Photo of Malcolm ByrneMalcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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Next Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Cuireadh an Seanad ar athló ar 12.45 p.m. go dtí 1 p.m., Dé Máirt, an 16 Bealtaine 023.

The Seanad adjourned at 12.45 p.m. until 1 p.m. on Tuesday, 16 May 2023.