Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo the welcome given to the witnesses and officials. It was a strong presentation and I congratulate everybody on the success achieved, particularly in increasing the medal count at the London Olympics. It is an account of the public money spent in the process, and there is a clear correlation between investment and results that cannot be ignored.

The question has been asked as to what this committee and politicians can do. Over millennia, governments, emperors and other rulers have all recognised the value that sport has and linked it to political successes in many cases. That has gone on in modern times behind the Iron Curtain, and there has even been government interference in the selection of some athletes. There is anecdotal evidence of such links between government and sport.

The model we have is quite effective, as we take an "active interest", to use Mr. Mulvey's phrase, but we do not intervene. We let those who know what they are doing work away and we support them. We are obliged to scrutinise the performance of athletes that have been publicly funded, and that is a role of this committee. It is satisfying to see an increase in medals and better positions being achieved in major championships and the Olympics in particular.

However, not once have I heard anything about the personal bests that athletes really hold onto as an identifiable way of measuring progress. When I watch athletes perform and see a PB appear after their name when they achieve a result, that is deeply satisfying, but we have no measure here of how many personal bests were achieved over the last cycle by athletes, particularly those in track and field. We can be dazzled by medals, but, as Senator Coghlan mentioned, when one strips away the boxing it is a little more modest. The real measure of how athletes progress - certainly my measure - or of the effectiveness of the funding is the attainment of personal bests and progression in that regard. That applies to other sports. It shows how athletes are improving, and I do not get an idea of that in the witnesses' testimony to the committee this morning. How can we get those figures as part of our scrutiny?

Finally, I will mention something equally important. The investment the taxpayer puts into sport could be greater, in my opinion, and it would be great if we could get better results. Is there a way to measure this internationally? Is there a country with a federation or committee that does similar work or has a similar structure or template to ours which could define, to over-simplify it, a cost per medal, cost per win or cost per progression or PB?