International Women's Day: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-04
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Evanne Ní Chuilinn (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. Nach iontach an rud é gur beirt bhan iad an tAire Stáit, an Teachta Higgins, agus an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, an Seanadóir Rabbitte, agus muid ag plé Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan.
I am going to use my few minutes to raise the issue of women in sport. I feel a responsibility to do it. I probably sound like a broken record at this point but we have to keep talking about the agendas that we want to push in the Oireachtas. There is a theme for the International Women's Day and there is also a theme for Sport Ireland's women in sport week, which is the same energy. Again, it goes back to just celebrating women and equality for women and girls. It is really important to remember that if we are talking about equality of opportunity for girls and women in sport, we have to make sure we are talking about the right opportunities.
Women will get involved in sport for very different reasons from men. Very often, it is just to have a bit of fun and the social side of sport. Sometimes the competitive nature of sport drives young girls away from sport. We have to make sure that we are putting the right opportunities in place for our girls. Are they into rugby? Great, if they are into rugby. Maybe, they are into baton twirling or acro dancing. If they are, then we have to make sure that those facilities and opportunities are available to girls.
Gender quotas have worked very well in sport governance to get that 40%. We women sometimes do not put up our hands. Senator Comyn mentioned about more women putting up their hands for political life. It is the same for leadership and coaching. We need more women coaching young girls because a girl will gravitate towards a female coach when they are seven, eight, nine or ten years old. When they get their first period, it is the female coach that they are going to want to talk to, not the male coach. We need to have more female coaches, which means coach education, but it also means empowering women to make sure they realise they can do a job and put their hand up for a job, whether it is voluntary or an executive position. In terms of leadership, we need make sure that we do not lose focus that we need female leaders in sport as well. Male allyship is so important. Most of us women in politics, agriculture, sport or any walk of life would not be here without male allies. It is important to acknowledge that. It is the only way to continue the growth of the women in this sector and other sectors.
Regarding inclusion and equality, we need inclusion for all in sport, including disability sport and trans women in sport. These are areas we are going to have to discuss and examine when it comes to the sports landscape in Ireland going forward. Happy International Women's Day, International Women's Week and Women in Sport Week to everybody in the Oireachtas and all my colleagues outside.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:43+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-04