MINISTER FOR SPORT Patrick O’Donovan has said his predecessor Shane Ross set back women’s roles in Irish sport by “around 20 years”. 

O’Donovan said Ross, who was minister for sport between 2016 and 2020, had “trampled all over” a proposal he made about women’s roles in sport governance when he was a junior minister in the department. 

He told the audience at the Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards that his relationship with Ross, who has since stepped away from politics, had been “rather difficult”. 

“I tried unsuccessfully to bring in a rule with regards to women’s roles in the governance of Irish sport and he unceremoniously at the time trampled all over it and set the role of women in Irish sport, I believe, back about 20 years,” O’Donovan said.

Ross lost his Dublin Rathdown seat in the 2020 general election, which was seen as an upset. He was succeeded in the role of minister for sport by Catherine Martin of the Green Party, who topped the poll in the same constituency. 

Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

In 2023, the government announced it would not provide funding and capital grants to sports organisation unless they have 40% female representation on their boards. 

O’Donovan took over the department when the government was formed in January of this year. 

In June, O’Donovan announced an investment of €4 million under the Women in Sport (WIS) Programme for 2025, which matched the amount invested the year before. 

Shane Ross has been contacted for comment.