Report of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-24 ============================================================ Alison Comyn (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber and I thank him very much for coming in. I welcome the report. Fianna Fáil is committed to sport for all, ensuring that everyone, regardless of age, gender, background or ability, has the opportunity to participate in sport and physical activity of any kind. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy McConalogue, and the significant strides that have been made in participation and investment. We have seen record core funding through Sport Ireland alongside two major capital programmes, namely, the community sports facility fund and the large-scale sports infrastructure fund. Further opportunities are coming under these programmes, with details and application dates to be confirmed shortly. I know the Minister of State will outline some of the significant funding when he responds to the debate. Sport for all cannot simply be measured by how much money we allocate. It has to be measured by who gets to use the facilities we build and whether the barriers identified in the joint committee's 2024 report are being removed. When I was driving here today I was thinking that a rugby ball does not know the gender of the person passing it, a basketball does not know whether the player bouncing it is standing on two feet or sitting in a wheelchair, and a running track does not care about the colour of someone's skin, how much money they have, who they love, where they were born or what their postcode is. Sport does not exclude people but people can exclude people as can systems. Traditions can even exclude people. This is why when we talk about inclusion in sport we should talk about removing these barriers which, let us be honest, should never have been there in the first place. The report calls for stronger leadership and accountability on inclusion, better access to facilities and transport, appropriate training for coaches, greater representation of women in leadership and greater visibility for women's sports. These are all very necessary recommendations. There has been progress, with participation at record levels and the gender participation gap narrowing considerably, but participation is only one measure of inclusion. As we have heard today, we can let girl join a club and still give boys the best pitch, we can have a women's team at the highest level and still give them the worst training time or the worst facilities, and we can celebrate our female athletes when they bring home global medals while leaving women outside the rooms where important decisions are made. This brings me to the recent resignation of former President, Mary McAleese, as independent chair of the steering group on integration of the GAA, the LGFA and Camogie Association, which has already been mentioned. These three associations had committed to full integration by 2027 but Dr. McAleese stepped down after the GAA said it could no longer commit to that definitive timeline. She raised serious concerns about the place of women in decision-making at the highest level of Gaelic games. This was at the committee I sit on with my colleague, Senator Ní Chuilinn. We got the impression quite early on that the GAA was not going to make that deadline. The GAA, of course, has strongly rejected accusations of misogyny and has pointed instead to organisational and financial difficulties but these different positions should be acknowledged. The timetable has slipped at a time when we should be accelerating progress. Equality has to mean something in practice. If we say a women's team is equal, this should be reflected in pitches, training times, funding and resources and, crucially, decision-making at the top table. The 2024 report also addressed the visibility of women in sport. In 2025, just 18% of national sports news coverage devoted its time to women's sport. Yet, if anybody doubts the audience for women's sport, they should know that more than 80,000 people packed Croke Park only weeks ago for Katie Taylor's final fight, while the RTÉ televised audience peaked at 1.6 million. That is hardly niche at this stage. Of course, Katie Taylor does what Kate Taylor does and she won, ending an extraordinary career as a three times undisputed world champion. There is a huge lesson in that, namely, give women's sport the stage and the coverage and the people will come. Inclusion cannot simply be shorthand for gender equality alone. Again, the report addresses the barriers experienced by people with disabilities and people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. In 2024, participation among people with disabilities stood at just 32%, with the socioeconomic participation gap at 19 percentage points. Membership fees, equipment, transport and access to suitable facilities can all determine whether someone plays a sport. Disability inclusion has to mean more than putting a symbol or sticker on a clubhouse door; it needs a hell of a lot more. Can someone actually use the facilities, access appropriate coaching and get to the training? These are the practical tests of inclusion. As has been outlined, we have made significant progress and invested hugely in Irish sport, something we will hear from the Minister of State in a few moments. The 2024 report gave us a clear set of recommendations. Our task now is to measure what has happened as a result, identify where the barriers remain and keep improving them. Ultimately, sport for all has to mean exactly what it says. As I said, the ball does not care who kicks it, the track does not care who runs on it and the basketball does not care who scores, and neither should we. Our job is to make sure that every single person who wants to play sport is included and allowed to play. --- 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/2026-09-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-24