Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 October 2020
67. Deputy Chris Andrews asked the Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht if an association (details supplied) will be encouraged to roll out pay equality for the senior Irish women's football team with their male counterparts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27406/20]
View answerThe Government has demonstrated its commitment to women's sport over many years, and considerable Exchequer funding has been allocated to programmes aimed at encouraging women's active and social participation in sport. I would highlight in this regard the Sport Ireland Women in Sport programme established in 2005, which has provided funding support of over €20 million to a broad range of programmes aimed at increasing participation by women and girls. My predecessors Shane Ross and Brendan Griffin, T.D. were enthusiastic supporters of the Federation of Irish Sport's 20 x 20 campaign and my colleague Minister Chambers has already been in discussions with the Federation on how Government can do more to support this initiative.
In respect to the sporting body referred to by the Deputy, at the outset I must recognise that as a National Governing Body of sport the Government respects the indepenence and autonomy of this association in organising its competitions, selecting international teams and other matters. Payments to international players is a matter for the association itself, and neither I nor my Department have any role in determining the level of payments for the different international teams selected by this or any other National Governing Body of sport.
With that being said, it is important to recognise that when the members of the women's international team referred to by the Deputy highlighted challenges in their remunerations and conditions, my predecessor Minister Ross raised the issue with the association concerned on a number of occasions. In 2018 the Minister provided additional funding to support the women's international team referred to by the Deputy. In 2019, in spite of a number of challenges, my Department and Sport Ireland made arrangements to ensure that funding allocated for the women's international team was disbursed to them and used to support their preparations for international fixtures.
I want to thank the Deputy for highlighting this important issue and I can assure him that I will indeed discuss the question of equality for the men's and women's senior international teams with the sporting association concerned at the earliest opportunity. I would like to assure the Deputy that the importance of women's sport is something I will be highlighting in all my contacts with national and international sporting bodies.
