Sports bodies to meet Minister to discuss how to tackle racism and violence

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A meeting with Ireland’s three biggest sports organizations is to be called to discuss how to tackle racist and violent incidents.

Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education Thomas Byrne is due to convene a meeting with leaders of the Gaelic Games Association (GAA), Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and Irish Rugby Football on Tuesday Union (IRFU) with Chief Executive of Sport Ireland Dr Una May.

It comes after Wexford hurling star Lee Chin suffered racial abuse at a charity match last month, in an incident that has been widely condemned.

A number of incidents involving attacks on referees have also come to light recently; Government officials began discussions with Sport Ireland earlier this year on how to tackle such behavior.

As a sporting community, it is imperative that we demonstrate that there is simply no place for violence and racism in sport, Mr Byrne said.

Sport fosters a strong sense of belonging in our communities and we must never let incidents of racism and violence undermine the positive power of sport.

I look forward to meeting some of the sport’s top leaders to discuss how best to prevent incidents of racism and violence in sport and to consider how best to deal with such incidents, when they do unfortunately occur.

In response to a parliamentary question from Labor TD Duncan Smith in March, Mr Byrne said that while the primary responsibility for respect lay with the sporting bodies themselves, Sport Ireland planned to set up a working group to define a model code of national driving through Ireland. sports.

The Minister of State said this could incorporate respect and the elimination of abuse towards referees, officials, coaches and players which could be used by sports organizations to promote good practice in their sport.

Mr Byrne also added that assaults and other allegations of criminal behavior should be reported to An Garda Sochna.

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