The IRFU has pledged an additional €1m (£860,000) to put into effect the Women’s Rugby in Ireland report published on Thursday but says it needs €1.4m more for its full implementation.

An additional €1m has now been secured with the IRFU looking to government and sponsorship for the further €1.4m.

2021 saw the women’s game in Ireland embroiled in controversy.

Matters were brought to a head following the Ireland women’s shock failure to qualify for this year’s World Cup and last December, a group of 62 players past and present wrote a letter to the Irish Government saying that they had lost “all trust and confidence in the IRFU”.

An independent report into Irish women’s rugby was later commissioned with the IRFU promising to implement the 30 recommendations which included giving increased funding to the women’s game.

Provincial centres of excellence to be set up

Gillian McDarby was appointed as the IRFU’s newly created head of women’s performance and pathways role in August which followed the departure of the governing body’s previous women’s rugby director Anthony Eddy.

Developments to be enacted following the publication of Thursday’s report include centres of excellence being set up in all four provinces.

“We’ve identified what needs to be put in place on the back of the recommendations in this report,” said McDarby.

“From my perspective, that’s designing new pathways/structures in partnership with domestic rugby and the provinces.

“This will help up to identify girls from the age of under-16 up to senior who will have the potential to represent Ireland.

“The centres of excellence in the provinces will be resourced by technical coaches and athletics performance coaches and they will be responsible for recording those programmes and ensuring that we have the service provision in place to support these players to provide sustainable programmes.

“Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll start the interview processes for those resources.”

Asked about the current shortfall in the money required to put the report into practice, McDarby replied: “It’s going to take time. We’ve got some money [the €1m] and part of that is for facilities in clubs and part of it is for these new pathways programmes.

“It will be ever evolving and it will take time for that to be implemented. As the time goes by, hopefully the money will come to finish out the project.”

Developments in the women’s game over the last 12 months included professional contracts being offered to players in both the 15s and sevens squad.

The IRFU later revealed that eight internationals – who mostly play outside Ireland – had turned down contracts which ran from deals of €15,000 per year to potentially €45,000 if bonuses are factored in.

McDarby said on Thursday that players who play outside Ireland will still be considered for international selection.

“Absolutely it will all be based on performance,” added the IRFU’s head of women’s performance and pathways.

IRFU’s 40% gender balance target

While the cost of living is particularly high in the Republic of Ireland, and especially in Dublin, McDarby defended the contract terms being offered to Ireland’s women’s players as being “in line with other unions around the globe”.

“What we’ve done is that we’ve benchmarked these contracts globally.

“There are a number of different contracts and the max is €45,000. We’re all experiencing the cost living crisis that but we’ve put the right supports around the players and this is the beginning of the journey.”

The IRFU has also pledged to move on gender balance both in terms of the governing body’s employees and committees with the intention that the current 13% female figure will reach 20% by the end of this season and 40% within three years.

“We will hit the 40% target. We’re on target to achieve that and we’ve done a lot of good work to make sure we achieve that,” added McDarby.