Sports Bodies Face financial Penalties unless 30% if their board is female

Dirty Dingus McGee

http://www.independent.ie/sport/sports-bodies-face-financial-penalties-unless-30pc-of-their-board-is-female-35286125.html

Sports bodies face financial penalties unless 30pc of their board is female
New gender quotas ‘to give women a full role in Irish sport’; GAA, FAI and IRFU have no female members on boards

The country's sporting bodies will lose thousands of euro in State funding unless 30pc of their board positions are filled by women, the Irish Independent can reveal.
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In a major policy proposal being brought to Cabinet, associations such as the GAA, FAI and IRFU will be forced to comply with strict gender quotas.
The plan, being devised by Sports Minister Patrick O'Donovan, will prove controversial, particularly in male-dominated sports.

However, Mr O'Donovan last night said the move represented the need for society to recognise the equal right of women to hold high office.
The measures are modelled on a 'carrot and stick' approach whereby the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport will reduce funding to organisations that fail to comply with the new rules.

From 2019, organisations with more than 10 employees will have to ensure that a third of their boards are made up of women. The rule will come into force a year later, in 2020, for smaller bodies with fewer than 10 employees.
At present, many large sporting organisations have few women on their boards.

The board of directors at GAA, the IRFU and the FAI have no female representative whatsoever. However, there are many who hold positions outside of the main boards in these organisations.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is understood to be supportive of the move, which follows the decision by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition to introduce gender quotas in relation to Dáil seats.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Mr O'Donovan said he wanted to see a situation where there were "no glass ceilings" for women in sport.
"I have had discussions with figures from other European countries and I believe the time is now right for Ireland to begin the conversation as to how we take out glass ceilings for women," the Limerick TD said.

"We have to make sure there is every available opportunity at the table for both women and men."
Mr O'Donovan said the measure was "gender neutral" and that in cases where boards were predominantly made up of women, the same 30pc rule would apply for male members.

He said the details of the exact funding cuts would be worked out and that a memo would go to Cabinet in the new year.
Sixty-five organisations ranging from household names such as the GAA and IRFU to smaller bodies like those overseeing hockey and basketball received taxpayer money totally €27m this year.

The funding is allocated through Sport Ireland, which co-ordinates the sustainable development of competitive and recreational sport.
The gender quota measures represent the first major policy announcement from the department since the formation of the new Government.

"I have spoken to the Taoiseach, who is right up to speed with what I'm trying to do. It is something that I believe is important and now is the right time to have this conversation," Mr O'Donovan said.

"This is not about trying to dictate in terms of boards. But everybody must have the opportunity to play a full role in Irish sport, both on the field but also in positions of governance and leadership," he added.
Earlier this year, Mr O'Donovan introduced strict new rules surrounding personnel, finances and decision-making for sports bodies.

The measures meant that all bodies under the auspices of Sport Ireland would have to sign up to a 87-page voluntary code of governance.
Irish Independent

Complete bollox if you ask me.What happened to the whole idea of the best person getting the job.Also for the GAA it doesn't make much sense as it's 2 biggest sports are played by men only and the women have their own associations.

munchkin_utd

indeed. It seems strange, bizarre even, to want gender quotas of ladies to manage an organisation which is solely concerned with mens sports.

Should the girl guides or ICA or other exclusively female organisations have quotas of male managers just to provide some balance there too ?

If GAA , ladies and camogie are treated together there's surely a massive amount of ladies in power in "the Gaa", at least when looked at from a broader perspective including the 2 associations which deal with female sports.

And the article says that 30% of the board positions should be filled by ladies, but when all the decision making bodies in the GAA are elected, if you want to impose quotas you would need to have an unelected board (central council or executive, not sure which the 30% would apply to) rather than currently where counties make up the central council and provincial council bosses the executive.

And talking about percentages, that'd need a 66% margin in the congress if messing with GAA administration requires a rule change, which I suspect it would.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I don't really understand, where I come from the person who is most qualified and suitable for the role gets the job.

nice_guy80

Complete bollix

DEFTLEFTHAND

On second reading of the article, I think that this is some sort of elaborate hoax.

munchkin_utd

grand, if the GAA has to apply in tandem with the ladies and camogie in order to get funding for gaelic games in schools and the likes, then its 66% ladies representation on the boards when all 3 are taken together.

Heres the ladies GAA board, all women. http://ladiesgaelic.ie/about-lgfa/staff/
Heres Camogie, all women. http://www.camogie.ie/ardchomhairle.asp
The Gaa itsself is all men.

if you made the gaa (mens games) to have 33% women, then overall including the ladies associations, rather than the current situation of 66% of gaelic games decision makers being female you'd have 77% of gaelic games senior administration being female, in order to have gender BALANCE !!

The_Captain

Oh no, not thousands of euro!! That will significantly reduce the €27m handed out each year!

CrabRevolution

Could be on to something there, especially considering that any time I see the reports of large sporting grants, it mentions the GAA, IRFU and FAI, but not the Camogie or LGFA.

http://www.the42.ie/sport-ireland-gaa-fai-irfu-investment-2876023-Jul2016/

I can only assume that the GAA has to forward a chunk of its share to the ladies organisations. Otherwise it would seem a bit unfair on the women's sports to be denied money just because they are their own group.

If they're treated as one organisation for funding purposes, they should be the same for this new "equality" rule.

munchkin_utd

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Could be on to something there, especially considering that any time I see the reports of large sporting grants, it mentions the GAA, IRFU and FAI, but not the Camogie or LGFA.
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The article(s) mention that cash for youth development might be coupled to female quotas.

If I understand it right, in gaelic games terms that'd be the cummann na mbunscoilleanna, which has a few women on it at the moment so maybe if the cash was applied for at that level, which makes sense, then it'd be kosher enough, maybe requiring the quota at that level rather than the GAA or ladies organisations.

Cumann na mBunscol is an autonomous National Federation of Primary Schools promoting Gaelic Games in an educational context, having affiliatedto it County and Provincial Primary Schools Committees. The philosophy of Cumann na mBunscol shall be to promote Gaelic games in an atmosphere of fun and enjoyment and to make Gaelic Games the games of choice in our Primary Schools

This promotional work has been co-ordinated by Cumann na mBunscol for over 40 years, and today in 2013, we are active in 2,800 schools throughout the country with 100,000 school children participating in our activities.

http://www.cnmbnaisiunta.com/contentPage/339307/n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_c_o_m_m_i_t_t_e_e

Xenophile

No one who has burned their BRA should be allowed in, to burn the GAA.

blue note

The only sports I've properly been involved in are golf and hurling. Now it just seems insane to me that the GUI will now have to have women on their council and the ILGU have men on theirs. And the Camogie and Ladies Gaelic Football associations will have to get men on their boards and the GAA women on theirs. I imagine any time there are seperate organisations for each gender the boards will be made up of that gender. Will any allowance be made for them?

For soccer and rugby, while I don't think this is the way to deal with it, it's a little odd that their whole organisations are run by men. I had thought that the women were foolish not to come in under the GAA umbrella, but thinking about these other organisations, maybe they're not at all.