Today, we had the funding announcement for the women in sport programme. A total of €4 million is going into it. While this is something that happens every year, it is important to acknowledge it when it comes around because the moment we stop acknowledging and calling for it is the moment it falls off the agenda and no longer becomes a fund that we get to announce every year. This programme was introduced in 2005. Since then, ring-fenced funding has amounted to €30 million. There are a few pillars in the programme that this funding supports, including officiating and leadership, governance, participation and visibility.

I want to make a point on visibility. When we talk about empowering girls and women in sport, putting them on a pedestal and making sure they are in the media and public eye, it is important to differentiate between celebrating Irish women in sport and giving out about what is wrong. There are media and social media companies out there whose modus operandi online is to be outraged and give out about what is wrong. It is not to celebrate the wins, victories and achievements of young girls and women in sport. I want to make that distinction because it is important. If we are going to be populist online and look for clicks to go viral, then we are not being solution-focused or putting women and girls on a pedestal or making sure that visibility piece is achieved. Online platforms that say they are trying to promote women need to actually do so, rather than always giving out about what is wrong.

I have seen social media companies complain and be outraged about something that happened to a woman in sport. On the same day, however, they could have been talking about a young Irish cricket player who got her first cap for Ireland or a young Irish swimmer who finally made the breakthrough with a national title. When we talk about women in sport, I want to make sure the visibility piece is proactive, positive and solution-focused, rather than populist and negative.