Sport Ireland Publishes Guidance to Assist the Sport Sector in Policy Development for Transgender and Non-Binary Inclusion in Sport

Sport Ireland has today published a guidance document intended to provide information and insights to the Irish sport sector to assist with decision making and policy development for the inclusion of transgender and non-binary people in sport.

The guidance document provides recommended steps and considerations when putting a policy in place for the participation of transgender and non-binary people in a particular sport. It also highlights practical considerations for implementation and review of these policies.

Along with this Sport Ireland has also launched a suite of resources to support the sport sector, which will be updated regularly to reflect the ever-evolving nature of the environment in which the policies will operate.

This guidance document is underpinned by a comprehensive consultation process which took place over a period of six months. The key stakeholders consulted as part of this process were involved in every element of Irish sport from grassroots to high-performance, transgender and non-binary people and their families, advocacy and representative groups, and the general public.

In total, more than 4,000 people were consulted through a mix of surveys, focus groups and interviews.

The initial phase of this work, which spanned over 12 months in total, also explored the environment in which the guidance operates, including analysis of the national and international policy landscape.

Speaking about the publication of this guidance document Dr Úna May, CEO of Sport Ireland, said; “This is a very important guidance document which is designed to provide support and education to National Governing Bodies when developing policies for the inclusion of transgender and non-binary people in their specific sport. 

“We acknowledge that this is a complex issue and by the very nature of sport there is no one-size fits all approach that can be applied across the board. Equally it is an area that is constantly evolving, and as such we at Sport Ireland will evolve our support to the sector through a suite of resources which are regularly updated.

“Our ambition is always to make sport as inclusive as possible so that everyone, regardless of their background, can reap the many benefits that participation in sport brings. We would encourage all NGBs to put a policy in place if they don’t already have one.”

For further information please visit www.sportireland.ie/transgenderguidance 

The Guidance for Transgender and Non-Binary Inclusion in Sport brochure can be found using the following link sport-ireland-guidance-for-transgender-and-non-binary-inclusion-in-sport_1.pdf (sportireland.ie)

ENDS

Please direct media queries to:

Clíona O’Leary on media@sportireland.ie