Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 July 2020
95. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of volunteers that are working with persons in sports; the different sports these persons are volunteering in, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17823/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraSport Ireland, which is funded by my Department, is the statutory body with responsibility for the promotion, development and co-ordination of sport. This includes the promotion of volunteering and participation in sport. They also publish on a bi-annual basis statistical data on active and social participation in sport in the Irish Sports Monitor (ISM).
The 2019 mid-year results from the ISM recorded that 11.8% of the 8,504 respondents had volunteered in support of a sport or recreational physical activity in the previous 7 days. This would equate to a national figure of about 430,000 regular volunteers.
The sport-by-sport is below:
|
Sport |
Percentage of Respondents who had volunteered in the last 7 days |
|
Gaelic Football |
3.7% |
|
Soccer |
1.8% |
|
Hurling |
1.3 |
|
Rugby |
0.7% |
|
Running |
0.6% |
|
Camogie |
0.5% |
|
Swimming |
0.5% |
Additionally, Basketball, boxing, hillwalking, golf, hockey, horse riding, martial arts and youth sports all had reported volunteering rates of between 0.2% and 0.4%. All of these figures are subject to error margins which mean that they (particularly for the smaller sports) should be treated with some caution.
The current National Sports Policy, running from 2018 to 2027 includes measures aimed at increasing the rates of volunteering in sports, led by Sport Ireland. These measures also focus on increasing volunteering among groups currently underrepresented among existing volunteers, with the aim of increasing capacity across the sporting sector. My department and Sport Ireland are also represented on the National Advisory Group on Volunteering and are supporting the Department of Rural and Community Developmentalso in developing the National Volunteering Strategy.
