LAST UPDATE | 15 Dec 2021
MINISTER OF STATE for Sport, Jack Chambers, says he was “disappointed” with the tone of the IRFU’s response to a letter sent by a group of former and current Ireland internationals outlining their loss of trust and confidence in the union, but wouldn’t be drawn on the possibility of withholding funding from the IRFU following the issues raised.
Chambers was speaking during a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media to discuss the challenges facing women in sport.
Earlier this week, Minister for Sport, Catherine Martin, and Minister of State for Sport, Chambers, released a statement outlining they were considering the letter with “the utmost seriousness” and indicated their willingness to meet with the players directly.
While today’s meeting largely focused on issues surrounding participation and visibility for women in sport, Minister Chambers briefly addressed the situation regarding the letter sent to the IRFU and answered a series of follow up questions.
“We have responded to the group to advise that a meeting will be sought with the IRFU and that Sport Ireland will also meet with the players to discuss the issues raised, and that meeting will take place before Christmas,” Chambers said.
“Both Minister Martin and I have indicated that we are also happy to meet with the players, should that be needed, and we hope to be able to do that in the next week or so.”
Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells was the first to ask if the Government would consider threatening to withhold some funding from the IRFU if they do not meet the changes demanded in the letter.
On Monday, the IRFU were awarded €19m as part of the latest round of government funding.
“I was disappointed with some of the remarks made in the statement from the IRFU,” Chambers said.
“I think it could have been more conciliatory in its approach, and I’ll certainly reflect that when I meet them.
I won’t pre-empt the discussions we are going to have with the IRFU, with the players and with everyone involved. I think the statement (from the IRFU) should have been more conciliatory and I don’t think it was helpful in the context of trying to resolve the issues raised. But I’m not going to pre-empt the discussions we will have.
“We’ll engage in a robust and frank way with the IRFU to reflect on the issues, but also to focus on resolving the matters raised by the players, to their satisfaction.”
In April 2019, Sport Ireland suspended and withheld future funding to the Football Association of Ireland [FAI] until reports commissioned by the FAI had been completed and the recommendations adopted, after details of a €100,000 loan by then-CEO John Delaney became public. Funding to the FAI was restored in January 2020 following the completion of those reports.
In today’s second session the committee heard from representatives from The Federation of Irish Sport and Sport Ireland.
During that session, Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster asked Una May, Director of Participation and Ethics for Sport Ireland, if the organisation were previously aware of the issues raised in the letter.
“Our intention is not to make too many comments today, because we have been requested to meet with the players by the Minister,” May said.
We’ve been aware of the reports and reviews that are being carried out and it is our intention to await the outcomes of those. We do anticipate them being published and we hope that they will be independent, transparent reviews which will clearly outline the issues that are arising.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Sport Ireland published the latest snapshot of female representations on the boards of funded National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Sports Partnerships, with representation on the IRFU board at just 13%.
The IRFU have set targets to increase this figure.
“The IRFU has 13% women (on it board), which is not appropriate and not sufficient in our view,” May said. “It clearly has some way to go in terms of meeting the requirements that have been set out by the Minister. We will work closely with them and it will be defined by the Minister as to how that will be addressed if come 2023, those targets are not being met. They are increasing and they are working on it.”
Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne asked about Lynne Cantwell’s involvement with the letter. Former Ireland international Cantwell is a director of Sport Ireland and Chair of the Women in Sport Committee, and was one of the signatories of the letter sent to Ministers last week.
“It’s important that we do state that it is a metter for Lynne Cantwell herself on a personal level and also to reassure people that Lynne would absent herself from decisions in the board around decisions relating to the IRFU and any deliberations on this matter, she wouldn’t be involved with them,” May stated.
Towards the end of the session, Fine Gael Senator Michael Carrigy again inquired if the findings of the ongoing IRFU reports will be made public. The Union have not made previous reports public, and IRFU chief executive Philip Browne has stated they will only release some of the key findings.
“Obviously we would prefer to see those reviews published,” May replied. “But it is important to note that Sport Ireland funds the 7s, and from that point of view we would expect that report to be published, and we would expect to have an influence in that decision, whether to publish or not.
“The IRFU are the main funders of the women’s 15s team, so from that point of view we have less of a role of play.”
First published today at 17.47
