Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
97. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to ensure equality between men and women in sport in view of the fact no woman appeared on the recently published report on 100 top sport earners. [25405/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe context of the Deputy's question relates to professional sport and the earnings accruing to any individual sportsperson or sport, which is not within the purview of my area of responsibility, or indeed that of Sport Ireland.
I would consider that the issue of securing equality between men and women in sport is fundamentally concerned with equality of opportunity and the provision of access to a variety of sporting activities that are of interest and are sought by men and women.
It is of course hugely important to ensure that men and women are equally as involved in all aspects of sport, and this is a key aim in our upcoming National Sports Policy. In terms of the measures being taken to work towards equality, I think that the Deputy will be interested to hear that real and substantial progress is being made in the sports participation rates of men and women.
Just over a decade ago, in 2007, there was a gap of almost 16% in active participation levels between genders. In the intervening decade, we have narrowed this gap to just 4.5% in 2017 according to the recently published Irish Sports Monitor Annual Report.
In the last four years alone, Sport Ireland has allocated almost €2,400,000 in specific Women in Sport funding to 31 different National Governing Bodies of Sport. This investment is clearly delivering strong results.
We will continue to work towards the achievement of parity in the area of active participation in sport by gender. My Department's new National Sports Policy aims at increasing the levels of participation in sport and physical activity across the population over the next ten years, with a specific focus on less active groups including women and girls.
There is also significant work to be done in increasing involvement of women in areas such as coaching, administration and membership of Club and NGB boards. This will be a focus of our efforts to strengthen the overall capacity of sports organisations as part of our National Sports Policy. It is important to ensure that representation by women at all levels of sport is evident and becomes the norm into the future.
The new National Sports Policy will be published in July 2018.
