Mr. Kieran Mulvey:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for giving us the opportunity to address them. As Mr. Hickey has indicated, I address the committee following a very successful Olympic Games for Ireland and its athletes. This has been our first opportunity to address the committee since the end of the last Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Irish Sports Council was established in 1999. One of its statutory obligations was the development of high performance sport in Ireland. Among the critical mechanisms for the review of our performance are the outcomes of Olympic Games and other international championships. Following previous competitions, the council completed, for example, the Sydney review, the Athens review and the Beijing review, respectively. Each of the review documents, while distinct, shares the traits of being honest, collaborative and ambitious.

They set out ambitious targets for our planning period. This is done in co-operation with the national governing bodies, the Olympic Council of Ireland and the Paralympic Council. I should also mention the director of the Institute of Sport, Mr. Gary Keegan, who is with us this morning, and Mr. Paul McDermott, who will be taking over as director of high performance sport. Regrettably, we lost our high performance director, Finbarr Kirwan, since the Olympics. He was poached by the US Olympic Council, which is evidence of the high calibre and performance of the Irish Sports Council and its staff. I pay particular tribute to Mr. Kirwan and wish Mr. McDermot success in his new role. Mr. Kirwan's departure is another country's advantage.

The key metric in high performance is the number of medals or podium places achieved across all supported programmes. In the four years up to Athens, Ireland achieved 54 medals, in the Beijing cycle we achieved 70 medals and in the London cycle we achieved an extraordinary 163 medals. These included 61 medals in 2012 at European, World, Olympic and Paralympic level. Our success has continued into 2013, particularly in boxing, equestrian sports and sailing. I hope we will also enjoy success in athletics in Moscow. Our swimmers will be competing later in July and we hope to see new talent emerge in that context. These successes are due to the performance of extraordinary Irish athletes in a multiplicity of disciplines.

Prior to the Olympic Games, the council set a target of nine finalists or the equivalent thereof and three medals for the Olympic team. The final outcome for Irish athletes in London was five medals and 14 top ten finishes. This equals Ireland's best ever medal total and was a significant improvement on previous Olympic Games. Ireland placed 41st on the medal table rankings, compared to 61st in Beijing. Overall, Team Ireland produced 27 top 16 performances in London, compared to 19 in Beijing. This, however, was eclipsed by the extraordinary performance of our Paralympic athletes in London. The council set a target of five medals for the Paralympic team, with a possibility of three golds. The final outcome for Irish athletes in London was 16 medals, of which eight were gold. Ireland finished 19th on the medal table rankings.

This performance represents an excellent return on the taxpayer's investment in Irish sport, which investment was made at considerable cost given the difficulties with the public finances during the period in question. As chairman of the Sports Council, I am very conscious of the need for governance in accounting for public moneys. Since becoming chairman, I have insisted on publishing all the council's spending in every discipline and activity annually so that the public is fully aware who gets how much and for what purpose and taxpayers can be fully conversant with our bang for their euro.

Over the past several years a relative peace has descended on the sporting community. We now have a collaborative community. I am always conscious in making such statements that a row may break out somewhere tomorrow to disprove what I say but I hope peace will continue to reign. We have an extraordinarily positive relationship with our colleagues on the Olympic Council of Ireland. I would like to take this opportunity to note the other success we enjoyed in London in Mr. Pat Hickey's election to the executive committee of the International Olympics Council. He follows in the steps of Lord Killanin and I wish him every success. I thank Senator Eamonn Coghlan for his work with the council and as chair of the high performance committee. He agreed to continue chairing the committee after his election to the Seanad to facilitate a smooth transition into 2012.

We also have a good working relationship with our political masters, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, and the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ring. Both individuals have taken to their portfolios with enthusiasm and learned new things about new games, as I have as chairman. We could not have a more enthusiastic supporter of everything Irish on the international stage than the Minister of State, who is an inspirational figure wherever he addresses our athletes and sportspeople. I thank the Government and the people of Ireland for recognising the success of Irish sportspeople in the various receptions given in Farmleigh. Our President has acted likewise in Áras an Uachtaráin. Even though the sports budget has suffered some cutbacks in the past several years in line with all agencies and Departments, we appreciate that the Government and the Oireachtas has kept to a minimum the cuts to the sports budget. We can manage with this level of funding and while we would obviously like more, we will have to wait for better times.

That the value we offer for the taxpayer's money is reflected on the international stage does not mean national and local sports are ignored. Sometimes, however, the benchmark is based on international competitions. We all feel pride when the tricolour is raised for our athletes on the podium. With a bit of luck, we could have achieved an additional two or three medals but that was not to be. I am glad to say the athletes have decided to prepare for the Rio Olympics and we have decided to continue funding them.

I will now hand over to Mr. John Treacy, a silver Olympian and chief executive of the council.