Mr. John Treacy:

It is extremely hard to win medals in Olympic track and field events and we must be realistic about what we can achieve. When Senator Eamonn Coghlan and I competed at distance running we did not have to compete with hundreds of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners. Racing is very competitive nowadays. Since the Olympic Games Ms Fionnuala Britton has won a gold medal at the European Cross-Country Championships and she was a member of the Irish women's team who won a silver medal at the event. That is a fantastic achievement. We need to look at the bigger picture for athletics. I am not here to defend athletes because they can defend themselves. The Irish Sports Council financially supports athletes and there is great talent coming through the system.

Corporate governance in sports was mentioned which included boxing. After the Olympic Games, priority was given to finalising the contracts for boxing coaches between the Irish Amateur Boxing Association and the Irish Sports Council. We also worked closely with the IABA to ensure that the medal winners remained in the amateur sport. We must face more challenges from the world body that controls professional boxing. These are the types of issues that we and the IABA will work on over the next number of months. We will work closely with the IABA to ensure that Ireland's athletes are best placed to qualify people for the next Olympic Games.

The council has heard the same stories of interference with coaching by Billy Walsh. That is unacceptable. We support the world class work done by the high performance unit. Such issues would not arise if clear job descriptions were given.