National Governing Bodies
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

National governing bodies of sport, NGBs, which represent over 13,000 sports clubs throughout the country, are independent, autonomous organisations which are responsible for governance of their sports at national, local and other levels, including disciplinary and complaints processes. Sport Ireland, as Ireland's sports development agency, works with NGBs to ensure that appropriate governance and safeguarding policies are put in place, as well as mechanisms to handle complaints or issues when they arise. This work is underpinned by Sport Ireland's governance code for sport, compliance with which is a condition of funding for NGBs.
While I am always open to exploring policy initiatives that could improve the operation of the Irish sports ecosystem, I consider that establishing a separate statutory governance authority for NGBs is not required and could have unintended negative consequences. For example, it could undermine NGB operational autonomy, alienate volunteer-led club networks, create bureaucratic duplication or trigger jurisdictional conflicts within existing international sports federations. Moving the disciplinary and dispute resolution processes of NGBs to a stand-alone governance authority could also lead to significant additional costs for the sector.
The safeguarding of everyone at all levels of sport, regardless of age, is a shared responsibility. In August 2023, a new national code of conduct template for sporting organisations was launched by Sport Ireland. The code sets out guidelines and principles promoting the behaviours and conduct expected from athletes, coaches, parents and guardians, supporters, referees, officials and all club members. All NGBs are expected to use this template code of conduct as an opportunity to review their existing policies and procedures for handling code breaches to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all involved in Irish sport. Leadership is being provided through Sport Ireland and the national governing bodies. To take that away from the NGBs entirely and have a separate body would have repercussions and undermine those NGBs. I am open to having further discussion on what is an important point. It is something we should consider fully.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11