Report of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-24
============================================================

Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I thank the Cathaoirleach and Senators Ní Chuilinn and Harmon for raising this matter. I thank Senators Nelson Murray and Comyn for their contributions. I look forward to the remaining contributions and thank all for taking the time to be here to discuss what is an important topic. I acknowledge the time being given on the floor of the Seanad to ensuring that a report which had a lot of time put into it by a previous Oireachtas committee remains alive and actioned.
It is an opportune time to review the recommendations of the 2024 report on inclusion in sport published by the committee, particularly in light of the preparations under way for a new ten-year national sports policy to run from 2028. The current national sports policy sets out a vision for sport in the country that emphasises a sport for all ethos and which prioritises inclusion in sport and participation for under-represented cohorts. While more work is undoubtedly needed to remove any and all barriers to participation, I am pleased that substantial progress has been made since the inception of the national sports policy in 2017 on the inclusion of women, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, older people and those from disadvantaged communities.
With respect to the inclusion of women in sport, which is identified as a key issue in the report, the national sports policy set a target to eliminate the gender participation gap by the time of the strategy's conclusion in 2027. The Irish Sports Monitor report for 2025 found that active sport participation levels among women is at 46%, an increase of five percentage points from the 2017 baseline. This progress is significant and reflects the substantial work of the sector in this area.
However, it is regrettable that the 2025 monitor also revealed that the gender participation gap has widened slightly, from 3% to 4%. This highlights the continued need for targeted investment and programme design to meet the 2027 target which my Department and Sport Ireland remain committed to delivering. As evidence of that commitment, in July of this year we announced €4 million in funding for the women in sport programme for 2026, which is double the amount allocated in 2022.
Beyond funding, recommendations 13 and 14 of the report rightly point out that visibility is critical to removing barriers to underrepresented groups, including women. For this reason, visibility, alongside active participation and representation in leadership, is a key pillar of Sport Ireland’s women in sport policy. On this front, Sport Ireland launched the first ever study of gender balance in sports media coverage in March of this year. The results of that study highlighted that women’s sport remains significantly underrepresented in the media. I, therefore welcome, the Future of Media Commission’s call for the development of a diversity and inclusion strategy for sports reporting and broadcasting, and I am glad Coimisiún na Meán is also currently in the process of developing a sports strategy in consultation with Sport Ireland.
Achieving genuine gender balance in sports media requires a system-wide approach where we challenge deeply ingrained and outdated perceptions. The lack of viewership of women's sports is often used to justify low coverage but studies have shown that promoted properly, they can attract significant audiences. Senator Comyn outlined the most clear recent example of that with the wonderful national attention and record audience we saw for Katie Taylor's career finale in Croke Park. It was a wonderful tribute to her career and an appropriate way for her to finish her career. She was a trailblazer once again for women in sport. We should all take encouragement from the viewership of 1.6 million the audience reached that night, greater than the peak viewership of the 2026 World Cup and the all-Ireland hurling finals. This highlights the eagerness of the Irish people to support their female athletes and the appetite that exists for appropriate and extensive media coverage of women’s sport. As such, I would like to emphasise that a more balanced media landscape in sport represents an opportunity for broadcasters, not sacrifice.
Gender equality across sport is a Government priority and, while not directly involved in the process, we are very supportive of the integration of the three associations within a unified single structure for Gaelic games. While the precise roadmap for integration is a matter for the GAA, the LGFA and the Camogie Association and their memberships, I urge all parties to commit to a clear and defined process and timeframe for integration. In this regard, the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and I have written to the associations and have asked them to provide quarterly updates to Sport Ireland on progress. I understand they are working towards the appointment of a new chairperson on 5 October.
Disability inclusion in sport represents another key area of priority for my Department and is identified as a critical issue in the committee's report. It is worth noting that Sport Ireland launched its statement of commitment to and action on disability inclusion in sport in November 2024, after the report was published. In addition, I was pleased that increased funding provided to sport in budget 2025 enabled Sport Ireland to establish a dedicated disability in sport funding stream and to appoint a disability in sport lead. This role has the potential to be transformational, and we are already seeing the benefits of having a lead to co-ordinate with national governing bodies, local sports partnerships and other sporting bodies to develop and promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in sport.
The most recent Irish Sports Monitor revealed that participation among people with disabilities reached a record high of 34% in 2025 and the gap between people with and without disabilities narrowed to 19 percentage points, compared with 22 points in 2024. These findings point to the progress that has been made. However, it is very clear that the participation gap remains too high. I would like to assure Senators that my Department and Sport Ireland remain committed to making this gap a thing of the past.
Likewise, with regard to visibility for people with disabilities in sport, which is highlighted in recommendation 14 of the report, it is worth noting that the first ever disability in sport week hosted by Sport Ireland took place in December 2025. The events over the week highlighted the achievements of athletes with disabilities and showcased inclusive programmes, local champions and inspiring athletes under the five pillars of the Sport Ireland disability in sport policy. The 2026 event of this kind will take place from 1 to 7 December, and it is envisaged that it will take place annually to coincide with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Events like these have the potential to serve as catalysts for making our sporting community more inclusive. They provide critical opportunities to strengthen partnerships and highlight best practice in order that every person with a disability can step into a club, a pool, a pitch or a gym and feel that it is a place for them.
Additionally, with respect to the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community, the report suggested a number of recommendations. Among these was the need for guidance regarding transgender and non-binary inclusion in sport and physical activity, expressed in key recommendation 17. Sport Ireland has since published a guidance document in this area following detailed stakeholder consultation. Sport Ireland has also delivered in-person and online workshops to enable the national governing bodies to research, design and publish their own policies on transgender and non-binary inclusion in their sports.
In line with recommendation 14 of the report on the visibility of sport for the LGBTQ+ community, Sport Ireland also conducts its Let’s Get Visible campaign on an annual basis to coincide with Pride month. The campaign seeks to highlight the sporting achievements of LGBTQ+ people and acknowledge the importance of their visibility and representation in the sports sector. Under recommendation 15, the committee’s report also advised that support be given to the growth of LGBTQ+ orientated sports clubs. On this front, I am pleased to report that in 2025, Sport Ireland supported Clare Sports Partnership and Sporting Pride to pilot and implement a bespoke LGBTQ+ advocates training programme for other local sports partnerships, national governing bodies and sports clubs. The programme provides direct support to existing clubs to become more inclusive towards the LGBTQ+ community or to develop their own dedicated LGBTQ+ sports club. While more work is needed to eliminate the participation gap between LGBTQ+ persons and heterosexual persons, which currently stands at 4%, I am nonetheless pleased that progress is being made in the sector.
In particular, I would like to report that in October last year, Sport Ireland published its Spotlight on Participation in Sport report, which showed sports participation by members of the LGBTQ+ community has increased by 9% since 2021 from 49% to 58%. This indicates a very positive momentum that I am keen to build on in order that members of the LGBTQ+ community have the same opportunity to enjoy the benefits of sport.
The committee’s report also makes a couple of recommendations with regard to the hosting of major events. Recommendation 3 of the report notes that inclusion of sport dividends ought to be considered when assessing proposals for hosting such events. I acknowledge that a significant potential benefit of hosting major international sporting events is that they can encourage active participation and inclusivity in the particular sport. For example, data from the United States revealed a record surge in soccer participation, including among women and ethnic minorities, before and during their hosting of the World Cup in the summer. As such, a key consideration in my Department’s assessment and evaluation of events, as well as in determining which major international sporting events should be supported, is the social inclusion legacy that the event can deliver. This includes the extent to which the event can increase participation and ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds have opportunities to participate and engage in the sport.
Another key part of the assessment process is understanding the social benefits to the local community. Social inclusion will continue to be a key factor in determining which events the Government supports and will be an important consideration in the context of the further development of the major international sports events strategy framework. Therefore, I can say that any proposal to host a major international LGBTQ+ event as recommended in the report under recommendation 16 would be considered in this context.
Beyond this, recommendations 7 through 9 of the report speak to the need for appropriate training to be delivered throughout the sports sector in the area of inclusion. As I am sure Senators will agree, volunteers and coaches are the backbone of the sports sector in Ireland and as such, an inclusive environment depends on supporting them with the necessary training and resources. To this point, in 2024 Sport Ireland made equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI, and anti-racism workshops available to over 60 national governing bodies of sport, 29 local sports partnerships and a number of other recognised bodies in the sector. In addition to this provision, in 2025, €2 million was awarded to national governing bodies and local sports partnerships as part of dormant accounts funding via the equality, diversity and inclusion fund. This supports projects, including relevant training, to remove barriers to participation in sport for individuals from diverse and under-represented communities.
Likewise, the need to deliver training for the coaching of women and girls in sport, which was identified in recommendation 8 of the report, is something that Sport Ireland remains committed to. Sport Ireland coaching provides workshops on coaching teenage girls and has equipped more than 1,000 coaches across the country with the tools to build confidence and encourage the long-term involvement of women in sport. My Department will continue to support our volunteers and coaches to facilitate inclusive sport, and I welcome the work that Sport Ireland is doing in this regard.
As I conclude my statement, I reiterate my Department’s commitment to promoting an inclusive sporting environment where everyone has the opportunity to reap the benefits of sport. Notwithstanding the continual need for improvement, I trust Senators will agree that the landscape of sport is in a much more inclusive place today than it was when the national sports policy was launched in 2017. Our investment in the women in sport programme, the establishment of a dedicated disability in sport lead and disability in sport funding stream, as well as the equality, diversity, and inclusion fund via dormant accounts funding, to name but a few, are contributing to the growth in participation for under-represented groups and the erosion of long-established participation gaps. More broadly, the increased funding allocated to sport in budget 2026, which was more than double the amount allocated in 2018, points to the Government’s continued commitment to investing in sport. The return on that investment in terms of community participation, inclusion, and physical and mental well-being is, I believe and I think we would all agree, substantial.
I remain steadfast in my work to remove barriers to participation and any recommendations of the committee’s report that have not yet received direct engagement can and will be considered during the consultation process for the new national sports policy. It is absolutely essential we utilise that new policy to set the direction to build on the continued progress we have seen over the last ten years. Much has been achieved but there is still a long, substantial and important road to travel. We need to make sure the next ten years sees as much progress and, indeed, more progress as we have seen over the last ten years.
The work of the Oireachtas committee in 2024 deserves our significant thanks. It is no small undertaking for a committee to put time and effort into putting a report like this together. It is a significant commitment of their time and their resources, which are limited. I think it emphasises the importance the committee gives to this particular issue. I think the decision and motion here today to bring it back to the floor of the Seanad for this discussion reflect the importance of that time and effort that was put in and the fact that we need to make sure it delivers results and contributes significantly to the journey we are all travelling.

---

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