At a function last night to celebrate 40 years of Community Games in Ireland, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern called for new and innovative ways to ensure increased voluntary participation.
An announcement on increased funding for the games had been expected, but Mr Ahern said the issue was still being assessed by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue.
He was speaking at an event in Dublin Castle organised in honour of the founding member of the community games, Joe Connolly.
Mr Ahern said the organisation would have an increasingly important role to play in the effort to combat obesity in children.
"With the pressures of modern life, it has become difficult for organisations such as the Community Games to find people who can devote as much time to their activities," said Mr Ahern.
"We need to find new and innovative ways of encouraging and providing the supports for ongoing voluntary participation."
The Taoiseach commended Mr Connolly for his inspirational idea to establish community and sporting activities 40 years ago and develop what began as a small outlet for children in Walkinstown into a national organisation.
"With some 500,000 participants and some 1.3 million supporters, you have developed an enviable network across the 32 counties.
"Binding that network together is, of course, the dedication and commitment of your 20,000 volunteers," said Mr Ahern.
Chief executive of the Community Games Donal Buggy said that recruiting more volunteers would be central to the continued high performance of the organisation.
However, he added that the increasing demands made by society had created a situation where parents were often too tired to volunteer and too drained to encourage their children's participation.
Under a new strategic plan, which will be announced in September, the Community Games are expected to implement more diverse and year-round programmes.