A NINE-year-old girl and her family were left in a “state of shock” when she was told that she could not join the local scout group because of her gender.
The issue was raised by her local TD Claire Daly in the Dáil last week.
Ms Daly of the Socialist Party asked Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald if it was appropriate that an organisation such as Scouting Ireland should receive State funding if some of its branches did not allow girls to join.
She told The Irish Times that she had been approached by the father of the girl in question who was angry because his daughter was told to join other scout groups in the Balbriggan area of Co Dublin that did allow for co-education.
Ms Daly said the family could not believe that “in Dublin in 2012”, scout groups could exclude girls. “The father was not prepared to let it go,” she said and asked Scouting Ireland for a contact so the family could send notification that they were taking a case to the Equality Authority.
Ms Daly said initially she believed nothing could be done as Scouting Ireland was a private organisation. She later discovered that it was in receipt of €1.1 million of State funding.
She maintained such organisations should ensure equality.
“In this day and age it is not really appropriate. Hopefully the organisation will make all their groups compliant,” she said.
In response to a parliamentary question, Ms Fitzgerald confirmed that Scouting Ireland received grand-aid funding through the department’s youth service grant scheme, while individual scout units received one-off annual grants under the local youth club grant scheme to assist with group activity and/or running costs.
The Minister said Scouting Ireland had told her department that 90 per cent of its groups were mixed, some 40 per cent of its membership were girls and half its adult volunteers are female.
Scouting Ireland has 46,000 members. Formerly known as the Boy Scouts, it became co-educational in 1987.
Scouting Ireland spokesman Jimmy Cunningham said single- sex scout groups were “few and far between”.
He said they only existed in places where there is a girl guide group nearby.
In some cases the numbers are too big and girls had to be excluded, but only if there was a group near at hand that could take them.
All new groups must form on the basis that they are co-educational and it was the policy of Scouting Ireland to have every group as a mixed one, Mr Cunningham added.
