The Xcessible programme is an inclusive programme designed for National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) to positively and meaningfully provide opportunities for people with disabilities to take part in sport and physical activity.
About Xcessible
Building a strong foundation for inclusion and nurturing the relationships we have with NGBs and LSPs has always been a priority for Active Disability Ireland. Active Disability Ireland’s core beliefs to provide opportunities for all people with disabilities to participate in sport and physical activity and to ensure that they have a choice of the type of activities has to remain priority for the NGB’s & LSP’s to ensure the we create a wholly inclusive environment for everyone.
Through the development of Xcessible, Active Disability Ireland want to push this agenda even further and help to create these opportunities across a wide range of opportunities from coaching, volunteering, participation, officiating, high performance etc.
Who Is It For
The programme is specifically for Local Sports Partnerships and National Governing Bodies of Sport. The primary purpose of the Xcessible programme is to enable NGBs and LSPs to function inclusively and therefore provide high quality opportunities for people with disabilities to participate sport and physical activity in any capacity.
2025 Xcessible Awards
The Process
Xcessible is a three staged resourced pathway designed to ease an NGB or LSP into the area of inclusion and will support them through the process of developing and increasing their capacity to support people with disabilities to be active in their sport in terms of participation, coaching, volunteering, officiating and employment. Xcessible has been developed using the Sport Inclusion Disability Charter as a guiding tool. The NGB or LSP will be guided through each stage of the journey under the headings of:
- Openness
- People
- Activities
- Facilities
- Promotion
The NGB or LSP will be supported by Active Disability Ireland through each stage and will set realistic and manageable goals and deadlines. The NGB or LSP will be required to evidence their work and journey and will present to a panel of experts on their experiences, results and outcomes of their work completed.
There are three different levels to the programme each with different criteria which progressively encourages the NGB or LSP to becoming more inclusive. Each level must be achieved before progressing onto the next level and the programme is not time bound. Each organisation will be on a journey to inclusion and the timeline to achieve this will differ from organisation to organisation.
Panel Presentations
At the end of each Xcessible level, the NGB or LSP will be required to evidence their work and journey to date. Each organisation will present to a panel of experts outlining their experiences, results and showcase what they have achieved during the time that they have been working through the programme.
Guidance and support will be provided by Active Disability Ireland throughout the process. Panel presentations take place twice annually.
Testimonials
On behalf of Athletics Ireland, I would sincerely like to thank Ali and all the team in Active Disability Ireland for all the support and guidance through the Xcessible Bronze journey.The programme has provided us with a strong foundation to create opportunities for people with disabilities. It has forced us to look at new ideas, collaborations, and avenues to ensure we are always pushing ourselves to do better.Athletics Ireland is delighted to achieve the Bronze Award, we have learned a lot along the way. This is now a stepping stone for us to continue our inclusive journey to making our organisation more accessible to more people. We look forward to the journey ahead to the silver award.
Triona Shalloe, Athletics Ireland, 2025
“Cavan Sports Partnership has always prioritised promoting inclusivity and creating opportunities for individuals with disabilities to engage in sports and physical activities within their local communities. We are delighted to have been awarded the Xccessible Bronze Award, which highlights the many benefits of being inclusive in every aspect of our work. The Xcessible programme has allowed us to identify and implement new strategies for enhancing inclusivity across our organisation. We are grateful to Ali at Active Disability Ireland for her ongoing support throughout our Xccessible journey.”
Lorraine O’Rourke, Cavan Sports Partnership, 2025
“Golf Ireland are delighted to receive the Silver level Award on the Xcessible Programme. It was a great opportunity for Golf Ireland to live our values of Collaborative, Progressive, Inclusive and Accessible. Inclusion for all, including people with disabilities is a key pillar of the Golf Ireland strategic plan, and part of what we do and how we do it. Following on from Bronze, where we put strategy and structures in place to ensure inclusion, Silver really helped us deliver on these strategic objectives. We were able to map our development as an NGB from one to the other, and test our pathways and strategy along the journey.”A.D.I. were a fantastic support throughout the process, a very encouraging and knowledgeable group to work with and we can’t recommend them highly enough. The Silver Award is a great scaffold for building inclusion in your sport or organisation, and We’d advocate for any NGB or LSP to go through the process, at whatever level, to get on the road towards making sport in Ireland accessible for all.”
Deborah Madden, Golf Ireland, 2025
“The inclusive work that Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership does with clubs and community groups across the county of Sligo is paving the way for opening up and providing more opportunities for people with disabilities to take part in sport and physical activity. SSRP are proud to be awarded the Active Disability Ireland Xcessible Bronze Award and will continue on the inclusive journey to work in partnership to have More People, More Active, More Often.”
Deirdre Lavin, Sligo Sports Partnership, 2024
“On behalf of Waterford Sports Partnership, we are honoured to have received the Active Disability Ireland Xcessible Bronze Award. Our strategies and policies have always placed a strong emphasis on inclusivity, but the Xcessible programme has helped us in finding new avenues to further inclusivity throughout our entire organisation. Throughout our journey, we had incredible support from Stephanie at Active Disability Ireland, who provided us with regular feedback and guidance”.
Jordan Kelly, Waterford Sports Partnership, 2024
Programme Participant Overview
| National Governing Body of Sport (NGB) | Local Sports Partnership (LSP) | ||
| Name | Level | Name | Level |
| Basketball Ireland | Silver ✓ | Mayo | Silver ✓ |
| Golf Ireland | Silver ✓ | Carlow | Bronze ✓ |
| Gymnastics Ireland | Silver ✓ | Cavan | Bronze ✓ |
| Swim Ireland | Silver ✓ | Clare | Bronze ✓ |
| Athletics Ireland | Bronze ✓ | DLR | Bronze ✓ |
| Badminton Ireland | Bronze ✓ | Kildare | Bronze ✓ |
| Canoeing Ireland | Bronze ✓ | Laois | Bronze ✓ |
| Hockey Ireland | Bronze ✓ | Meath | Bronze ✓ |
| Sligo | Bronze ✓ | ||
| Waterford | Bronze ✓ | ||
A further 14 NGBs and 19 LSPs are currently working towards achieving the Bronze Level of the Xcessible Programme.
How To Start
If your NGB or LSP would like to take part in the Xcessible Programme please contact our Sports Inclusion Lead: dhealy@activedisability.ie for further information.
