Safeguarding Campaign Positive Stories
The Sport Ireland Safeguarding campaign will be showcased on the Sport Ireland website and socials media platforms through digital posts, but it will conclude with a networking event at the Sport Ireland Campus Conference Centre. The Ethics Unit is looking forward to celebrating all the positive work the National Children's Officers and Safeguarding teams are completing as part of their roles within the sporting sector and feel that the NCO/Safeguarding network are an incredibly dynamic group that deserve to have the work they are completing highlighted and recognised.
This year Sport Ireland Safeguarding Campaign supports the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, ‘Children First Awareness Week.’
Under Children First, all organisations and individuals that provide services or activities to children should have child safeguarding policies and procedures in place to protect children from harm and promote their welfare.
This includes having policies and procedures on child safeguarding awareness and training and the reporting of child protection concerns.
Children First legislation also requires many organisations to carry out a risk assessment and develop a Child Safeguarding Statement, which outlines how risks to children’s welfare and protection will be managed.
To learn more about your obligations under Children First, visit gov.ie/childrenfirst
The Oliver Murphy Youth Leadership Programme. This programme is a partnership programme with Carlow Regional Youth Services and offers individuals with a physical disability between the ages of 18-23 years the opportunity to undertake training in leadership skills that can be applied to a variety of settings within our organisation as well as contributing to the personal development of the participant.
To support our young Members with leadership skills that may benefit on a personal and social basis in engaging in a programme that encourages initiative and opportunities.
To develop competencies in communication skills, relationship building skills, planning and problem-solving skills, confidence and agency, resilience and determination & emotional intelligence.
To enable participants to develop the skills, inspiration, vision, confidence, and action plans needed to be effective leaders.
To empower participants to make a positive difference through the practice of effective leadership.
The outcome of this project will see participants become empowered to lead among their peers and become advocates for the work of IWA and disability issues through a structured education programme.
For more information, please visit the IWA website here.
In response to several high-profile incidents, Sport Ireland partnered with representatives from the Irish sports sector, including referees and officials, to develop a template for a code of conduct for sport in Ireland.
This initiative aims to foster a culture of respect, integrity, and fairness within the sporting community by addressing and eliminating abuse towards referees, officials, coaches, players, and all participants involved. The newly created code of conduct template sets forth a set of guidelines and principles that promotes the behaviour and conduct expected from athletes, coaches, parents/guardians, supporters, referees/officials, and club members, regardless of the sporting environment.
While different sports organisations may have their own customised versions of a code of conduct based on their unique needs and values, this National Code of Conduct Template serves as a valuable reference for sports organisations that do not have an existing framework in place.
Sport Ireland recommends that National Governing Bodies use the code of conduct template as an opportunity to review their existing policies and procedures for handling code breaches.
For more information visit the Sport Ireland Website here.
This was the second year of Basketball Ireland’s Youth Leadership course, which is run in partnership with Foróige. It is open to those between 16 and 18-years-old, with 46 teenagers engaging in the first two years.
The programme takes place over 10-days from June to August, featuring a mixture of online and in-person learning. Participants complete Foróige’s ‘Leadership for Life’ course, as well as Basketball Ireland’s ‘Intro to Coaching’, ‘Intro to Refereeing’, and an Advanced Stats course through NBN23. They also undertake a research project focusing on a chosen area of basketball during the course.
It is delivered by Foróige’s Senior Youth Officer and Griffith College Éanna head coach Darren McGovern, alongside Ireland U18 Men’s head coach Paul Kelleher and Paul Carr of Basketball Ireland.
For more information, please visit Basketball Irelands website here.
Operation Safeguard
Operation Safeguard is an Erasmus+ funded project managed by Special Olympics Europe Eurasia; starting in June 2022 and finishing in June 2024. Special Olympics Ireland joined with partners Special Olympics Slovakia, Special Olympics Cyprus, Special Olympics Estonia and Special Olympics Belgium, to develop Safeguarding Policies and Procedures as well as other accompanying resources to increase awareness and strengthen practices within Special Olympics.
For more information, please visit the Special Olympics Website here.
Athlete Voices
Our Athlete Voices group is a response to replacing the athlete representative on the board of Special Olympics Ireland. It was felt the role was not being effectively utilized and not gathering athlete voices authentically in a format that met the needs of the representative. A recruitment drive was launched to find 10 athletes, 2 from each region, with an inclusive application process allowing athletes to send their letter of motivation in any format they wished.
After the selection process the group identified training needs to support their role; working with Tara Toastmasters and Creatovation they undertook Public Speaking and innovation training. The Athlete Voices group have done much work on their role and what they can offer the board and staff of Special Olympics Ireland. A two way approach strengthens the role of the athletes; they review and feedback on agenda items which require an athletes voice as well as bringing forward any concerns or comments they might have.
For more information visit the Special Olympics Website here
See Our 2022 Safeguarding Campaign Stories Below!
The Camogie Association: One Good Coach
The Camogie Association, GAA and LGFA, in partnership with Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, are delighted to make available across their memberships a new online mental health course called One Good Coach. The course is based on the successful workshop Jigsaw delivers face-to-face content across its 12 services. It offers participants a greater understanding of mental health, the importance of their role as a potential One Good Adult in the lives of young members, and a greater awareness of how to promote and support young people’s mental health. While designed with coaches in mind, the 40-minute content should prove equally informative to Healthy Club or Children’s Officers, any other club or county volunteers that work with young people, or even interested parents or young people themselves. The One Good Coach workshop is now available to access on the GAA’s e-learning platform here: One Good Coach - Gaelic Games and Jigsaw - Overview (gaa.ie)
For more information on One Good Coach, please contact the Camogie Association at:
Vision Sports Ireland - Youth Leadership Programme
As part of European Week of Sport, Vision Sports Ireland launched the 2022 Youth Leadership Programme at CP Adventure Centre, Wicklow on Sunday 25th September, where participants took part in team building activities. The programme takes place over 6 weeks beginning and is open to participants with a vision impairment aged 13-16 years.
The purpose of the programme is to guide the participants through a leadership learning process based on the key values of self-efficacy, respect, competence, dedication & determination, empathy & understanding, accountability and integrity. The programme aims to empower the young people to gain increased self-awareness, challenge their personal narratives around disability and encourage increased independence and confidence.
Several guest speakers including Paralympic Athletes will lead the various sessions throughout the programme. Modules include sports administration, advocacy and resilience, and innovation, whilst also gaining a first aid qualification.
2021 Youth Leader Ciaran commented on his experience ‘’The Youth Leadership Programme was a great experience. I learned all of the qualities and skills needed to be a good leader, heard from Paralympians about their experiences and what they believed made a great leader. As part of the programme I also learned first aid which is a valuable life skill and now I am volunteering with the St. John Ambulance.’’
Vision Sports Ireland - Youth Forum
Vision Sports Ireland and NCBI were delighted to announce the launch of a new initiative on Saturday, 12th of March at the Irish Sports HQ, to support young people to build new skills in advocacy and campaigning.
The Youth Forum is an annual programme supporting young people who are blind or vision impaired, to identify an area where they want to achieve change through campaigning.
Working together, the group of 8 teenagers, who have previously completed the Vision Sports Youth Leadership programme, will develop a campaign to create a more inclusive and supporting environment in school, sport and/or society in general. The Youth Forum will meet five times throughout the year and be guided through various sessions to equip them with the tools to become change-makers! They will support the role out of NCBI and Vision Sports Ireland Campaigns and will feed into the strategic activities of Vision Sports Ireland.
Leah, member of the Youth Forum said, “The first meeting of the Youth Forum with Vision Sports Ireland and NCBI was really enjoyable, it was a fantastic opportunity with great drive to make a real difference in sport for all types of people.”
The group will present their concerns and recommendations to the Board of Vision Sports Ireland, futureproofing accessible sport.
To support their journey, Vision Sports Ireland and NCBI created a toolkit which includes an accessible Workbook and Handbook to guide participants through the process of campaign development.
For more information, please contact the Vision Sports Ireland at: visionsports@ncbi.ie
Safeguarding Workshop Online Delivery Survey
Sport Ireland Ethics Unit
As part of the ongoing development of the Safeguarding Workshop delivery. Sport Ireland would like to gather your feedback on the delivery method for the safeguarding workshops. We have created two surveys to gather your feedback and these are aimed at two different participants.
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Sport Ireland Safeguarding Workshop Tutors. Click here: https://forms.office.com/r/AevVDMnJHL
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Sport Ireland Safeguarding Workshop Participants. Click here: https://forms.office.com/r/V4BLYBWCjf
If you could please take the time to complete the survey that relates best to you, it will provide us with valuable insight as to how best to continue to develop the Safeguarding Workshops.
For more information on the Safeguarding Campaign, please contact the Sport Ireland Ethics Unit at: Ethics@sportireland.ie
Swim Ireland: Safeguarding Report 2020 - 2022
Swim Ireland: Safeguarding Report 2020 - 2022
Swim Ireland are pleased to promote the Safeguarding Report 2020 – 2022, the second such report to be published by Swim Ireland, setting out the standards and measures within the organisation to ensure a safe, secure, and encouraging environment for young people.
The Report details the measures and standards in place, the achievements and adherence to these by those working with young people. Furthermore, the report highlights the initiatives in Swim Ireland for engaging and working with young people, which aims to enhance their enjoyment of their sport.
All aspects of the safeguarding arena in Swim Ireland are reported in the Safeguarding Report 2020 – 2022, through the three pillars of the Youth Development Strategy – Safeguarding, Ethics and Youth Development.
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Safeguarding is our core business in ensuring a safe environment for young people including 100% compliancy with legal requirements
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Ethics ensures we work together to enshrine young people’s rights in our ethos and culture in all Swim Ireland activities
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Youth Development enables young people to develop beyond their sport through their engagement with Swim Ireland and their sport.
The Swim Ireland Safeguarding Report is a measure of our standards for all to see and is a report that is a regular publication of these standards each season.
The Swim Ireland Report can be found on the Swim Ireland website or here! here
Junior Coaching and Leadership Course for Triathlon Clubs
What is the programme
A triathlon coaching and leadership course for Juniors (14 – 17 year olds) to give them a taste of coaching but also to develop their own organisational skills, build confidence, self-esteem and empower them as young people.
What does it involve
4 hours in total.
The course is a mixture of coaching theory and planning and delivering their own sessions using the IDEA model and coaching basics.
The participants take on the role of the coach and learn basic coaching skills.
How Does it work?
The programme is delivered by TI Development Officers or TI Coaches. The club must have indoor and outdoor facilities as the programme requires some indoor written work.
The programme is funded by the TI Development programme and WIS programme.
For more information, please contact Anna who is the Women in Sport and Youth Programme Lead: anna@triathlonireland.com anna@triathlonireland.com