Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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69. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht how women's sport will be advanced and supported at all levels; the plans that are underway to ensure more women and girls participate in all sports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53606/23]

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 2018-2027 and Minister Martin and I are committed to ensuring that we continue to provide increased opportunities for female participation at all levels.

In the recent Budget announcement, we announced an increase of €8 million or 5% in the sport budget for 2024. This includes an increase of €2 million for the Women in Sport programme which represents a doubling of Sport Ireland’s budget for this key Programme next year.

This is a very important funding programme for sporting bodies and it will continue to support those bodies in putting programmes in place to increase women’s participation in their sports and to progress their strategic objectives for women in sport across all areas including active participation, coaching, officiating and leadership.

The increased budget will also facilitate Sport Ireland to continue to lead out on programmes and initiatives that support the implementation of the Sport Ireland Policy on Women in Sport.

The funding will be administered by Sport Ireland, who will set out the terms and conditions of funding. It is hoped that the 2024 scheme will open for applications in the Quarter 1 of next year.

Sport Ireland’s funding guidelines for the Women in Sport programme continue to encourage organisations to develop Women in Sport programmes and initiatives focused on the key areas outlined in Sport Ireland's policy on women in sport, namely, Coaching and Officiating, Active Participation, Leadership and Governance and Visibility.

Investment in the Programme to date has enhanced all aspects of female involvement across these target areas.

We have set a target that every NGB will have a 40% gender balance on their board by the end of this year. This is a key priority for me and I have been clear that failure to achieve the 40% target will have serious funding implications for organisations. I was pleased to announce on Friday last, that the overall percentage of women on boards in the Irish sports sector now stands at 42%. For those organisations that are yet to meet the target, there is still time to do so before the end of the year and I would encourage them all to do so

The Women in Sport funding programme is in place since 2005 and since then, over €22 million has been invested through the National Governing Bodies of Sport and the Local Sports Partnerships.