Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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10. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for an update on funding provided for the women in sport programme; the measures her Department has taken to increase participation of women in sport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36872/24]

Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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I am sure the Department is aware as it has been doing work on it, that we struggle to maintain the participation of women and girls in sport. Despite improvements, there is a still a significant drop-off rate, especially of younger women in sport. What measures has the Department taken and will it take to increase the participation of women and girls in sport?

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Hourigan for raising this issue. It is an important question. The women in sport funding was first established in 2005. Since then, more than €30 million has been invested through the national governing bodies of sport and local sports partnerships. In June this year, Deputy Hourigan's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and I announced record funding of €4 million for the women in sport programme this year.

This funding represents an increase on the €2.7 million allocated in 2023 and a doubling of the amount allocated in 2021 and 2022, respectively. In addition, in July 2023, the Minister, Deputy Martin, and I announced extra programme funding of €500,000 to support women's and girls' football. This funding was provided to the FAI through Sport Ireland and will be invested primarily in the areas of coaching, grassroots and female leadership. This significant investment will help to ensure the further development of women's football in Ireland.

As outlined in the national sports policy, narrowing the gender participation gap is a priority for the Department, the Minister and me. As noted in the Irish Sports Monitor report for 2023, sports participation among women has reached an all-time high of 46%, while the gender participation gap is now at its lowest level, at just under 3%. The Department will continue to work with Sport Ireland to close that gap and improve women's access and opportunity to actively participate in sport.

Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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I welcome some of the statistics the Minister of State gave. I certainly welcome the improvements he outlined. The issue, which he might address, is the complexity as to why girls drop out of sport and the barriers they face, including that provision for them is sometimes peripheral when it comes to the provision of pitches and other infrastructure. Some research has shown that issues like safety, transport and feeling safe travelling to sports facilities can act as a barrier to participation. The research also finds that there is a social stigma to remaining involved in sports. That is why I am particularly glad to hear the Minister of State talk about grassroots leadership. I like to see that leadership coming from women who have gone down this road themselves, know the issues and can provide leadership to younger girls, who need to know that sport is a very good use of their time. Added to that is the reality of the capital funding of sports facilities. It must be the case that as girls go up the line through the cycle and become more senior, the facilities they access are the same as those their male counterparts enjoy.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Last year, I launched the Her Moves campaign to support, motivate and encourage teenage girls to be active. The Her Moves branding, including certain criteria around programme design, is now being used by organisations when rolling out physical activity programmes that target teenage girls.

We have also taken a number of other initiatives. Under the community sports facilities fund, which is the new name for the sports capital programme, we asked clubs and grassroots associations to come forward with projects that will help women to participate in sports, the provision of dressing rooms being a particular example. To be fair, a lot of the club representatives I meet know they have to upgrade their facilities and are looking for funding to do so.

We also insisted that there be gender balance on boards. We have moved from a situation where some of our national governing bodies had no women on their boards to one in which they now must have a minimum of 40% female membership. Quite a few of them have achieved 50% and more. That is important because it gives women a voice at the top table. The initiative has brought in a lot of new people. Some of the new directors have told me they really feel it is filtering down through the organisations.

In the case of the community sports facilities fund and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, there will be no funding whatsoever unless women have similar access to facilities to what is available to men. The day is over of women playing a soccer match at 7 p.m. on a Sunday while the men get the 3 p.m. game. The Government will not fund that. Women must have similar access. It is a matter for the organisations to put their policies in place. To get national or regional funding, they must show their policies to us and put them on their website. We have a template sample policy on the Department's website from which they can get inspiration.

Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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I really welcome some of those initiatives. As somebody who represents an area with a number of communities in which a lot of households are on low incomes and there are areas of deprivation, we look to sports facilities and sports clubs to help achieve social cohesion. Increasingly, we are seeing the benefits of sports participation for mental health and in creating a sense of belonging. That is just as real for women and girls as it is for boys and men. I particularly like to see championing of women who have been successful in sport. I recommend to the Department that it continue to champion the very successful women we saw in the Olympic Games and in other sporting events. They have done so well and can act as positive role models for women and girls in communities like mine by helping them to see sport as something they can do their whole life and as a real profession.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister informs me that on the arts side of the Department, a safety programme is being established along the lines of what the Deputy spoke about in terms of ensuring women and girls feel safe in sports settings. That will be rolled out in a number of venues, including sports clubs.

On the sports side, the sports organisations, in fairness, have come a long way. There is still a bit of way to go. They are very conscious of this issue. It took the threat of a 50% cut in funding to get some of them over the line to achieve 40% female representation on their boards. Now, however, everyone not just accepts but welcomes this. There are no regrets about it and no one is looking back. The resistance that was there looks a bit ludicrous at this point. It is done now and it will have a cascading effect. I have absolutely no doubt about that. I come from a household in which my other half is the top sportsperson. I know some of the issues she has faced over the years. As Minister of State with responsibility for sport, I have been working to see how we can address those issues at a national level.