National Children First Awareness Week

Children First - Ireland's national guidance for the protection and welfare of children - have launched the third national Children First Awareness Week, running from September 15th to 21st, 2025. This year's campaign is a cross-sectoral initiative which aims to raise awareness of child safeguarding as a collective responsibility for all responsible adults in Ireland.

We in Gymnastics Ireland are committed to creating and maintaining the safest possible environment for young people who participate in Gymnastics Ireland activities, which reflects the guidelines contained in the Ethics and Welfare section of our website.

"As a sport with one of the largest child & youth based memberships in Ireland we hugely invest annually in people, systems and training to ensure we are doing all we can to ensure safe participation in our sport." commented Gymnastics Ireland CEO Ciaran Gallagher. "This is a huge undertaking across the organisation from club through to national level. We are proud to promote & participate in the ‘National Children’s First Awareness week’ and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clubs and their members/staff in addition to our national team for their ongoing dedication."

A key focus for the 2025 campaign is empowering parents, guardians and responsible adults to feel confident in their role in safeguarding. The campaign encourages adults to ask questions and seek clarity on safeguarding measures in place in the clubs their children are involved with. We all have a role to play in child safeguarding and everyone should feel comfortable to ask questions that all serve us in this collective interest.

At Gymnastics Ireland, the well-being and safety of our members is at the heart of everything we do. Our staff and member clubs are ready and eager to answer these questions, to foster safe spaces for all children to thrive in sport.

The theme for this year's campaign is "We Were All Children Once. Now We Are Children First". This message is rooted in the shared human experience of being a child and is designed to inspire a collective identity grounded in empathy, responsibility, and action. Everything you need to know about Children First is available on our website here...