Sport Ireland's Annual Governance Conference 2024

Annual Governance Conference 2024 Banner

Sport Ireland's 2024 Annual Governance Conference organised in conjunction with our  Gov-Enhance Programme, is a flagship event in terms of Sport Ireland’s ongoing commitment to supporting, improving, and enhancing the governance capabilities of Sport Ireland funded bodies.  

The 2024 Conference will take place on Tuesday the 26th of November from 10:00am to 4:00pm in the Killashee Hotel, Naas, County Kildare W91 DC98.  This year, similar to last year, a Female Leadership Networking reception will be held before the Conference. 

Registration for the conference will take place from 09:30am with refreshments available on arrival giving people an opportunity to network with other attendees before the event which will begin at 10.00am.  We are delighted to have the event MC’d by Joanne O’Riordan again this year, an activist for people with disabilities, a sports columnist with The Irish Times and most recently a central member of RTÉ’s panellists covering the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.  

The theme for this year’s event is 

" From Policy to Practice: Governance Shaping Leadership and Culture.’’ 

The agenda for the day will include the following relevant sessions aligned to the leadership and culture theme:

  • Sport Ireland Welcome and Intro – John Foley and Dr. Úna May
  • Morning Keynote from Bríd Horan, Chancellor Dublin City University and Chairperson of Irish Cancer Society on "The Intersection of Governance, Leadership and Culture: Insights from Business."
  • Pre-Lunch Interactive Networking Session
  • Afternoon Keynote from Barry Cawte, Cricket Wales Chief Executive Officer on "Governance as the Blueprint for Leadership and Culture in Sport."
  • Closing sport sector panel discussion on "Key Ingredients to create Effective Cultures: Challenges and Solutions."

Please see the link below for the full 2024 Annual Governance Conference schedule.

The final biographies of speakers and panellists are included below, so please check back regularly for further updates.

To relive some of the insights and memories from previous events, please see the link below for details from the 2023 Annual Governance Conference.

Sport Ireland will have a photographer present at our upcoming Annual Governance Conference. Photography will include images of attendees and of the venue.  We will be compiling a variety of photographs from the event for promotion on our social media platforms (Sport Ireland X, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn) and for use on our website www.sportireland.ie 

Please contact governnace@sportireland.ie if you do not wish to be included in photography.