Minister will be direct and robust with IRFU over women's rugby issues

Minister Chambers was told at an Oireachtas meeting that the IRFU’s rejection of the “overall tenor” of a letter sent to him and Minister Catherine Martin by current and former players was not being taken seriously enough

Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht Jack Chambers during the opening ceremony of the Spar European Cross Country Championships Fingal-Dublin 2021 at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers was told at a joint committee hearing into equality in sport that his response to the IRFU in their fallout with Irish Rugby Women’s players “needs to be stronger”.

Chambers was also told at the Oireachtas meeting that the IRFU’s rejection of the “overall tenor” of a letter sent to him and Minister Catherine Martin by current and former players was not being taken seriously enough.

Chambers was repeatedly asked by committee members if he was considering withholding funding to the IRFU in the light of such grave concerns presented to him by 59 current and former players in their strongly worded letter, which he received last Friday.

Sinn Féin’s Imelda Munster said that withholding funding for the IRFU would send out “a strong message” in light of the “level of frustration” felt by the players, who have stated their lack of faith in the leadership of the IRFU to deliver “meaningful change” for the women’s game.

Chambers did not address the funding questions directly, and was unwilling to “pre-empt (the) engagement” with the IRFU but emphasised that he would be “robust” in his dealings with the organisation.

He said he had been disappointed by the response which Irish Rugby released in a statement on Monday and added that it should have been “more conciliatory”.

“I was disappointed with some of the remarks made in the statement from the IRFU and I think it could have been more conciliatory in their approach, and I will certainly reflect that when I meet them,” said Chambers.

“We need to be solution-focused, we need to have a constructive pathway that deals with the issues raised by the players and that’s what I’m focused on doing now.”

Chambers said that while he would be direct with rugby chiefs, he wanted to praise the players for the steps they had taken to raise their concerns.

“We’ll be engaging in a frank and very comprehensive way with the IRFU on the issues that have been raised by the players,” he said.

“They have shown tremendous leadership, not only in representing the country but also in trying to grow women’s rugby in the last number of years.

“I absolutely respect and take extremely seriously what they’ve set out to us.

“That’s why we’ve sought to do three things — fully engage with the IRFU and reflect all the issues (the players) have raised, we’ve asked Sport Ireland to engage with the players and provide assistance and guidance, and we’re willing to meet the players themselves as well.”

It was pointed out by Senator Shane Cassells that the “language used by the IRFU was quite hostile”.

He added: “The responsible approach would be to allow the review process to conclude, but the whole ethos and thrust is that (the players) had no confidence in the reviews in the first place.”

Cassells asked if the IRFU would be “starved of funding”, to which the minister responded saying he wouldn’t pre-empt the meeting, but reiterated that the statement by Irish Rugby was unhelpful.

The issue of funding was again put to Chambers a number of times by Imelda Munster who said that the IRFU should be told: “We’re not going to pump more State money into your organisation.”

Deputy Munster also told Chambers: “(The issue) needs to be taken quite seriously and it needs to be a stronger response.”

Wednesday’s meeting had been organised before details of the dissatisfaction of players with the Union came to light.

While not all of the 14 member committee opted to raise the issue of the IRFU or the row with its female players, Deputies Munster and Johnny Mythem, along with Senator Cassells were direct in their views.

Senator Cassells told Minister Chambers that the IRFU’s response was “most disappointing” while Sinn Fein TD Mythem described the statement by Lansdowne Road as “dismissive in tone”.

In her line of questioning to Sport Ireland, Munster repeatedly asked its representative, Una May, why the statutory sports body had no oversight across the rugby situation, or if it even knew about it before it came to light?

Una May responded that “the important thing is that they have taken their right to address the issues” but did not give a direct answer on what kind of supervision Sport Ireland had over the issue.

Amid repeated questioning, Dr May said that the body’s “remit is primarily around development in sport”.

She added that in matters where funding is concerned Sport Ireland would have oversight.

Sport Ireland said it would prefer to see the two reviews which have been commissioned by the IRFU before commenting further on the matter, before being asked if the statutory agency was “happy to leave well enough alone”.

Out of the three witnesses present, Jack Chambers, Dr Una May and CEO of the Federation of Irish Sport Mary O’Connor, only Chambers addressed the rugby issue in opening statements to the committee.

Fine Gael’s Brendan Griffin said that he had been “quite concerned by what I read, and matters raised need to be taken very, very seriously”.

Wednesday’s meeting “to discuss challenges facing women in sport” — which was chaired by Deputy Niamh Smyth — was a follow-up meeting to a hearing earlier this year to discuss funding and participation in women’s sport.

It came during what has been an extraordinary week for women’s sport given the letter sent by the “deeply discouraged” rugby players seeking meaningful change in the women’s game.

The players are seeking government oversight into the two reviews into female rugby and a guarantee of full transparency of the reports, along with changes in the governance of the sport.

While the row itself marks a hugely difficult period for women in rugby and the IRFU, the key issue now appears to be the response by the IRFU and something which has clearly added a layer of additional damage to the organisation.

Members of the 14-strong joint committee include Griffin, Alan Dillon, the ex-Mayo football captain, and Cork South West TD, Christopher O’Sullivan.

The committee will meet in private to discuss Wednesday’s proceedings in January.