Sport Ireland launches survey to help create more diverse volunteering base and strengthen sports sector
Sport Ireland is inviting people to take part in the first-ever survey into Diversification of the Volunteer Base, part of our continuing efforts to support and strengthen the sports sector.
The Diversification of the Volunteer Base Survey will form part of a review of volunteer training needs to help design a national approach to training to support, retain, and diversify volunteers.
The findings will help shape practical actions to make sport volunteering more inclusive and reflective of Ireland’s population. To reach as many volunteers as possible, the survey is available in 56 languages.
Mary Van Lieshout, Director of Participation, Ethics, Integrity and Research at Sport Ireland, said: “Volunteers are the backbone of Irish sport. From coaches to committee members, officials to event helpers, they keep clubs running, people active, and communities connected.
“This survey is a first for Irish sport - a sector-wide, evidence-based review of volunteer needs, with a unified plan to act on what we find.
“This national project is an opportunity to understand the experiences of volunteers and non volunteers from every background so we can build a system that truly reflects Ireland today. We're proud to be leading it.”
Volunteers are crucial to sport in Ireland, with Sport Ireland research highlighting the sheer scale of this commitment, with hundreds of thousands of people giving their time to support sport, including more than 268,000 involved in coaching - most of them volunteering, many with children.
The Irish Sport Monitor Survey 2024 found that 12% of adults in Ireland volunteered in sport, which is now back level with the pre-pandemic figure.
However, the data also highlights a lack of diversity in the volunteering base with white Irish adults up to three times more likely to volunteer in sport than people from other ethnic backgrounds.
This work supports Sport Ireland’s Volunteering in Sport Policy, which aims to make volunteering more inclusive, accessible and reflective of Ireland’s diverse communities.
This work also aligns with 2026 being the International Year of Volunteers, a UN initiative encouraging all sectors to recognise and strengthen the contribution of volunteers to communities.
Volunteers will be reached through a mix of direct outreach and sector-wide promotion. Sport Ireland will contact organisations and partners, while Local Sports Partnerships and National Governing Bodies will also take part.
The survey will run until mid-April, with scope to extend if required. For those who would prefer to engage with the consultation team in-person, a series of targeted focus groups are being delivered. If you are interested in participating in a focus group, please email consultations@s3solutions.co.uk to express an interest.
Sport Ireland encourages anyone with an interest in sport - whether you volunteer now or would like to - to share their experiences and shape the future of volunteering in Irish sport.