Sporting bodies will face cuts to their State funding unless at least 30% of their board positions are filled by women, under new Government proposals.

If adopted, organisations will have until 2020 at the latest to comply.

Women are largely under-represented at the highest levels of Irish sport - but that could be about to change.

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O'Donovan is proposing new rules that would see a minimum of 30% of either gender represented on the board of any sports body that receives State funding.

If the organisation has ten or more employees, it will have until 2019 to comply, with smaller bodies getting an extra year's grace. Failure to comply will result in cuts to State funding, although it hasn't been decided by how much.

While Mr O'Donovan admits it may be a "seismic shift" for some organisations, he says the two to three-year lead-in time should be sufficient.

After consulting with the Attorney General, he will bring the proposals to Cabinet early in the New Year for approval.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr O'Donovan said that filling more board positions with women is one way to address the under representation but other areas, in coaching and mentoring, also need to be looked at.

He added that young women needed to see role models on and off the field.

"Crucially I think young Irish women, particularly adolescent who are dropping out of sport in a lot of cases at a rate we are concerned about, they need role models and not only role models on the field but role models off the field," he said.

"What I'm trying to do here is provide an opportunity for women to break that glass ceiling, which is one of the last remaining glass ceilings for women in Ireland, and that's in terms of the leadership of sport."

