Oireachtas committee recommends establishment of Sport Ombudsman

The Oireachtas Committee on Sport has recommended the establishment of a Sport Ombudsman to safeguard participants and ensure that duty of care issues are resolved.

It is one of eleven recommendations contained in the Committee's report entitled, "The Elimination of Abuse Directed Toward Referees, Officials and Players in Sport".

The report was compiled following consultations with various sport stakeholders over the past few months.

Other recommendations include the creation of a working group of key stakeholders, such as Sport Ireland and others, to develop a national code of conduct across Irish sport.

The Committee believes that media organisations should be obliged to adhere to the principles of that code of conduct, should it be developed.

It also proposes a range of supports to referees, officials and players who have received abuse and training initiatives to counteract abuse.

The Committee is calling on the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to commission research into the levels of abuse and discrimination in Irish sport.

Committee chair Niamh Smyth said that the report was timely, given the scenes witnessed last weekend in Croke Park.

However, Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells said that the "real abuse" is seen at underage level.

He told reporters that state funding to sporting organisations should be cut if they are not adhering to the code of conduct.

Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon described the scenes witnessed last weekend in Croke Park as ugly and called for full and swift implementation of sanctions against the perpetrators.

Deputy Dillon said that in order to recruit volunteers at local level in sport, there needs to be assurances that they will be protected from such abuse. He added that