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The ongoing situation in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion is causing untold damage and devastation to all facets of society.

An appalling human tragedy is unfolding before our very eyes; a tragedy that is difficult to comprehend and one that will have grave and lasting consequences long into the future.

We at Rowing Ireland stands with Sport Ireland, Sport NI our the Government and the people of Ireland in welcoming to Ireland all of Ukrainians fleeing the terrible situation in their home country. As Ukrainian refugees begin to arrive, Sport Ireland is encouraging all National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships to extend a warm Irish welcome to these people, demonstrating the famous Irish hospitality and facilitate their integration into Irish society. We in turn our asking our clubs and our rowing family to extend this welcome. The hope is that collectively we might be able to provide a semblance of normality and hope to those displaced, in the face of difficulty we can’t even begin to imagine.

Jack Chambers TD, Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht, has joined with 37 other Sports Ministers from across the EU, North America and Australasia in condemning the actions of both Russia and Belarus. Rowing Ireland mirrors these sentiments, and is unequivocal in its position on the exclusion of both Russia and Belarus – including those representing bodies, cities or brands that are effectively representing Russia or Belarus – from any and all international sports. In this regard we encourage all of Rowing Ireland clubs to take a firm position and encourage their international federations to condemn the invasion and ban Russian and Belarussian athletes from their events and competitions, including the removal of the opportunity for Russia and Belarus host, bid for or be awarded any international sporting events.

Furthermore, Rowing Ireland support Sport Ireland in strongly condemning any display of support for the invasion by any athlete, regardless of their nationality.

Ireland stands with Ukraine in this time of extreme difficulty. To the people of Ukraine – should you find yourself in Ireland, this proud sporting nation stands ready to support and welcome another proud sporting nation.

 Rowing Ireland has reviewed the report of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board regarding the incident at Thomondgate on 23 February 2019 .  The entire Rowing Ireland community is absolutely devastated by this tragic incident, which has shocked all of our membership.  Our heartfelt sympathies go to Amy Mulcahy and her family and we wish her well in her rehabilitation and recovery.

Safety for all of our members, is Rowing Ireland’s top priority.  With this in mind, following the publication of the MCIB report, Rowing Ireland held an Emergency Board Meeting on 18 October 2021.  At this meeting, Rowing Ireland appointed a Board led Safety Review Working Group.  The Working Group has been tasked with engaging with the MCIB’s recommendations in detail and also with carrying out a full governance review of Rowing Ireland’s safety policies and practices.  While Rowing Ireland does not agree with the report’s findings and recommendations, we are committed to striving towards international best practice and our Safety Review Working Group will, in consultation with our Board, and stakeholders, take any necessary actions to ensure that we have appropriate resources in place to promote the highest standards, as our sport continues to grow.

Pending this review and consultation with our stakeholders, Rowing Ireland reiterates its request to all clubs, that they would carry out an immediate audit /risk assessment of all local obstacles and hazards, taking account of the circumstances of this incident. {REPORT NO. MCIB/286 (No.3 OF 2021)}

We are delighted to see so many of our junior rowers back on the water training this week.

With the positive news announced by Taoiseach, Micheál Martin on Thursday, we can now look ahead to getting back in our clubs and being on the water with our friends and clubmates again.

The reopening now allows us to look forward to competing again. We are carefully planning for regattas to come back on line. Firstly with ladders, then with home based regattas and building up as restrictions ease to regattas and an Irish Rowing Championship later this year. We still don’t know what format this will take; however, Rowing Ireland is committed to providing the resources needed to organise this year’s Championships in a safe and competitive environment while staying aligned with; Government guidelines. Once we have clarity, we will set a date (or dates if necessary) as soon as possible.

When this has been set clubs will be invited to organise regattas in the lead up to this date/dates. We will support clubs in this effort with safety and COVID-19 advice and our range of additional club support services that we have in place. We are looking forward to seeing all of the Rowing Family back on the water shortly.

We also have a number of new initiatives coming over the next few months to support our clubs, members, coaches, volunteers, and supporters as we gradually reopen our clubs again.

Coach Education

With the reopening of outdoors sports, clubs should be planning for their coaching requirements. We can help by training up rowers and parents to help clubs as assistant coaches through our Introduction to Coaching course.

We are also launching our Level 1 course which is to provide coaches with the knowledge and skills to develop junior and adult novice and club rowers in a safe, enjoyable and progressive way.

Keep an eye on our website for more information.

Women in Sport

We will be putting out resources and a webinar on ‘Female Health and Training’ this month. This will be available to athletes and coaches providing information about women’s health and effects of training. 

After the Olympics we will be running the following:

Return to Rowing which will be back this summer with the opportunity to recruit past rowers to come back and train for a challenge event! 

Women on the Water – an initiative to introduce rowing to a wider audience and sharing the benefits of our great sport! 

.. and lots more so watch this space.

Nutrition Workshops

Following the feedback from the Introduction to Nutrition to session we are developing as follow-up session on sleep and recovery which will be offered to clubs in the near future.

Further sessions and resources will be developed on different topics and will be available to clubs and members.

For information on this contact Leanne our club nutritionist.

Club Support

Supporting our clubs is key during this unprecedented time. Most of you attended our webinars on governance, safety and insurance. We will continue to keep all clubs updated with COVID updates and protocols for our clubs in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

We will continue to work with Sport Ireland and Sport NI to ensure that Regattas and competitions take place this year and are in line with Government, HSE, and NHS guidelines. These recommendations will continue to be fed back to you in a timely manner.


We have relaunched our Volunteer of the Month Award and will be highlighting our Clubs and their initiatives through our Club Spotlight.

To help support upcoming events, competitions and regattas, we will have a new Events Executive that will start with Rowing Ireland soon.

Rowing for all a sport for life

We have a number of Get Going…Get Rowing Initiatives

  • Our Dublin summer camps are being announced shortly
  • Limerick schools team building days starting on 4th May
  • Limerick schools PE classes (On the water) starting 5th May
  • Cork Summer Camps will be coming up over the next few months

Rowkyo heading towards the 11 million metres mark with the Big Strong Girls now logging their kms with us.

Don’t forget to register your km on our way to Tokyo; https://www.getgoinggetrowing.com/rowkyo/

We have sent out a list of events for Rowkyo to all club secretaries and will provide additional support for your clubs around Tokyo. This will support the increased engagement and participation in our sport that occur post-Olympics from out athletes that will be proud ambassadors of our Irish Rowing in Tokyo.

Support post Tokyo will include;

  • Advice on holding Learn to Row Sessions
  • Skills in running Camps
  • Support from our Get Rowing…Get Going Community Coaches in your area (where possible)
  • Focus on area’s of strategic growth in your membership

It’s going to be a really exciting time for our sport and one that we will all be proud to be part of this Summer. In order to make sure everyone knows about our sport, we will continue with our vast coverage of our athletes at home and abroad on our communications channels and on the web. Particularly around the Olympic qualification regatta and World Cup events. We will be up all night supporting our team also in Tokyo and have a plan for other event coverage that we hope will go ahead later in the years.

Finally, enjoy getting back on the water, make sure to adhere by the return to rowing advice previously issued, and ensure that all your members are registered. We can’t wait to see you all again in person when we can do so safely. In the meantime, we are here as a team to support you, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need assistance from us.

Yours in rowing

Michelle and the crew at Rowing Ireland.

The Committee noted the recently announced Government cautious approach for reopening the country by giving a weekly plan, up to week beginning 26th April, for easing of restrictions.

No further plan beyond that date has been communicated as yet. However, the Committee does remain optimistic for the recommencement of competitive rowing following the recent announcement and the continued roll-out of the vaccine.

As discussed with clubs at the recent EGM, we are committed to running Championships this year. In addition, the committee has reaffirmed its commitment to providing at least six weeks, notice where possible of the Championship date(s).

In light of many uncertainties and the cautious approach to easing of restrictions, we believe it is still too early to set dates for Championships at this time. However, it is unlikely that any Championships will be scheduled as early as the traditional July dates as it is hoped to have further regattas in advance of the Championships.

At this time it is not possible to indicate if we will be able to include events for Junior 14-16 and Masters as part of the Championship regatta. We all fully appreciate that the dedicated training of these athletes needs to be recognised, and if we cannot include them in this year’s Championship Regatta(s) format due to Covid restrictions, it is hoped another event(s) will be organised to support these key members of our sport.

We appreciate that it is important that we will continue to keep the clubs updated on developments so all our members remain engaged and committed to continuing their training.

The next Championship Committee meeting has been scheduled for early May to coincide with the next Government announcement.

A further update will be provided at that time.

If clubs have any queries they can e-mail championships@rowingireland.ie

Lisa O’Callaghan Chair

On behalf of the Championship Committee

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin made the announced yesterday evening and we have collaborated with Sport Ireland today to clarify restrictions for our clubs and members.

The “Living with COVID” plan, level 5, restrictions will take effect from Thursday 31 st December 2020.

Level 5 consequences are as follows:

Training: No indoor or outdoor exercise group activities, including those involving children, should take place.

Outdoor: People may meet with one other household when taking exercise. No exercise group activities should take place.

(There is an exemption for professional and elite sports).

However, this classification of Elite should be determined by Rowing Ireland HPD and CEO in collaboration with Sport Ireland/Sport Ireland Institute.


Indoors: Indoor training not permitted. (There is an exemption for professional and elite sports).

Gyms: Club gyms must close on the 31st of December
Events: No events to take place.

Travel: Training should take place within 5km radius of your home. (There is an exemption for professional and elite sports).

Visit Gov.ie for more information, www.gov.ie


Rowing Ireland will continue to work behind the scenes to communicate with the Government, Sport Ireland, Sport Expert Group and other stakeholders to develop safe protocols so our sport can return to some form of normality.

We will continue to plan for meaningful events in all circumstances in 2021 for our clubs. In addition to this, we will work with clubs supporting them and our members over the next number of difficult weeks ahead.

In the meantime, given the severity of the disease and its transmission at this current time, we encourage all our members to continue to abide by
the current restrictions and help the country to combat this pandemic.

We understand everyone’s devastation and hope that the news of the vaccine will bring new hope to our sport shortly.

These restrictions will remain in place until at least the 31 st of January 2021

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