DR UNA MAY has been appointed the new CEO of Sport Ireland, replacing the retiring John Treacy who officially left the post on New Year’s Eve.
Dr May, who has worked with Sport Ireland for 23 and a half years, has been the national sporting body’s director of participation and ethics since 2013. She also led the creation of the body’s anti-doping programme in 1998, directly overseeing it until the present day.
Dr May was selected “following a publicly advertised and extensive recruitment process that included an international dimension,” Sport Ireland said in a statement on Friday evening. “It involved both internal and external candidates and was overseen by Lansdowne Executive Search who specialise in the appointment of senior business leaders.”
Sport Ireland also pointed to May’s success in developing “the grassroots local delivery of sport, through the ongoing development of the National Network of Local Sports Partnerships, growing core investment in this area.”
Kieran Mulvey, chairperson of Sport Ireland, said Dr May “was selected from a field of extremely experienced and capable candidates.”
“Una brings huge experience to the role and has been a strong advocate for ethical and inclusive sport in Ireland and internationally,” he added. “She has been a prominent figure in many of Sport Ireland’s key projects over the past number of years. Her deep knowledge of the sector and passion for the work of Sport Ireland has led to her engagement with almost every area of Sport Ireland’s business from anti-doping to child safeguarding, the promotion of grassroots participation through the Local Sports Partnerships and national governing bodies to the development of the Sport Ireland Campus.
“On behalf of the board of Sport Ireland I congratulate Una on her appointment as chief executive and wish her every success in the role.”
Dr May’s appointment was approved by tourism, culture, arts, Gaeltacht, sport & media minister Catherine Martin, as well as minister of state Jack Chambers TD.
Martin said: “I congratulate Dr Una May on her appointment as chief executive of Sport Ireland. Una has developed a strong reputation as a dynamic and ambitious sports leader and has a track record of delivering results. I wish her every success in bringing the mission for sport in Ireland to the next phase of development and in achieving the ambitious targets set within the Government’s National Sports Policy.”
Chambers added: “Dr Una May takes up this post at a critical time for Irish sport. Una will work with the board of Sport Ireland and all stakeholders from the wider sports sector to ensure the sector’s continued recovery from the impact of Covid-19. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Una in implementing a ‘sport-for-all’ inclusive approach across all parts of the sports sector, in achieving the targets within Sport Ireland’s high-performance strategy and in expanding the world-class facilities at the Sport Ireland Campus.”
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