Oireachtas committee blasts ‘scandalous’ gender gap in Government funding of Gaelic games

Gemma Begley: “On a per player basis, males received [in 2020] an average of €1,282 each, compared to €424 invested for each female.”

The Oireachtas committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht is to write to the Department of Sport requesting a “thorough review” of funding for women’s sport, with TDs and senators branding as “scandalous”, “absolutely disgraceful”, and “unacceptable” the disparity in Government funding between male and female inter-county players.

At Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Oireachtas committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, members were informed by the CEOs of the Camogie Association and LGFA of the “vital” need for increased funding for the respective organisations.

Federation of Irish Sport CEO Mary O’Connor said the pot of €3m for specific women in sport funding needs to be “substantially increased” if the requirements of women and girls playing sport in this country is to be met.

Gemma Begley of the GPA/WGPA drew attention to the sizable gap in Government funding allocated to male and female inter-county players, calling for this imbalance to be corrected. At present, €3m grant funding is paid annually to male inter-county players, whereas the €700k awarded to female inter-county players is a more team focused grant.

“On a per player basis, males received [in 2020] an average of €1,282 each, compared to €424 invested for each female,” said Begley.

“The funding gap and experiences of male and female players remain significantly different. This presents a significant opportunity for the Irish Government to lead the way in creating equality in sport by making an equitable investment in all inter-county players.

“Closing the funding gap would be due recognition of female inter-county players who are the chief exponents of our indigenous games and local role models who prompt participation in sport. There would be no stronger public message on the role of women in Irish sport than acknowledgement from the State through equitable funding that our female athletes are valued equally.”

Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster labelled as “scandalous” the funding figures presented by Begley, proposing that the committee write to the department to request a “thorough review for funding for women’s sport”.

The committee will also ask the department to establish a taskforce on women’s sport which would look at the wider issues in women’s sport, following a suggestion from Camogie Association CEO Sinéad McNulty that was supported by Deputy Munster.

Federation of Irish Sport CEO Mary O’Connor said the pot of €3m for specific women in sport funding needs to be “substantially increased” if the requirements of women and girls playing sport in this country is to be met. 

Fine Gael Senator Micheál Carrigy described as “unacceptable” the complete lack of travelling expenses paid to female inter-county players, while Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells branded the aforementioned funding disparity as “absolutely disgraceful”. His party colleague Christopher O’Sullivan, TD for Cork South West, said the chasm in Government money directed towards male and female inter-county players is “not good enough”.

When pressed for her thoughts on a merger of the GAA, Camogie Association, and LGFA, ladies football CEO Helen O’Rourke said one association must come about “organically”.

“We all have one chance at this, we have one chance of having a one association that it has to work.

“We are working on a way of getting there organically by initiatives, a lot of our development with young people is altogether. We announced a player pathway recently for all codes, male and female.”

O’Rourke said there are more facilities required for the Gaelic games family as it is not possible for the majority of ladies football county boards to develop their own county grounds.

“The sports capital grant scheme is realistically out of reach for ourselves and the majority of our units as we simply would not have the initial funding required to enter this scheme to allow us to develop our grounds and facilities.”

Camogie Association CEO Sineád McNulty remarked that more needs to be done to achieve broadcasting parity regarding the coverage of male and female sports.

“Broadcasting of women’s sport has a long way to go to achieve parity. Recent research showed a high of 10.5% coverage in March 2021 of women in sport, with the remainder going to their male counterparts.”