Donegal women and girls to benefit from €4 million investment in sport

The investment of €4 million in the Women in Sport Programme for 2025 will support sporting organisations in putting initiatives in place to increase girls’ and women’s participation in sport across Donegal, Minister of State for Sport and Postal Policy, Charlie McConalogue, has said.

Speaking at the funding announcement at the Sport Ireland Campus, the Donegal Minister of State said the investment reinforces the government’s commitment to eliminating the gender participation gap in sport, which currently stands at under 3%.

“Our aim is to achieve equal participation by 2027,” he commented. “A fundamental aim of the Government’s National Sports Policy is to increase the levels of participation in sport and physical activity across the population, with a specific focus on less represented groups, including women and girls.

 “Significant progress is being made in this regard right across Donegal, with increasing numbers of women and girls participating in sport and greater female representation in the governance and leadership of sport in Ireland,” he added.

 The Women in Sport funding programme is in place since 2005 and over the past two decades, over €30 million has been invested through the National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Sports Partnerships, in promoting gender equality in sport.

 “In our own county, Donegal Sports Partnership has played a significant role in promoting gender equality since it was established in 2001. Over the last 24 years, Donegal Sports Partnership has been promoting gender equality through its pillars of active participation, capacity building, raising awareness, and developing partnerships and sustainability. Its Female Leadership Programme has been a huge success and a gamechanger in terms of getting more females more visible within clubs and organisations.

“The Women in Sport Programme funds projects and initiatives across a wide range of sports and supports the Government’s vision where women have an equal opportunity to achieve their full potential, while enjoying a lifelong involvement in sport,” Minister McConalogue added.

“The funding allocated by government to the programme this year will enable the sector to continue to deliver real and meaningful change,” he said.

“We are now seeing a consistent increase in female representation at sport leadership level year on year, with the overall percentage of women on the boards of sports organisations standing at 48% today, compared to just 24% in 2019. Government is steadfast in its commitment to continue to increase women’s sustained involvement across all sports and at every level from grassroots to high performance,” the Minister of State added.