Mr. Donagh Morgan:

As Deputy Fleming knows, the Olympics is cyclical. The Irish Sports Council would certainly like to be in a situation whereby it has certainty around its funding for the four-year cycle but we can only agree funding year by year basis. At the same time, the council, through its interaction with the national governing bodies, would have a pretty good idea of what is needed, year on year.

We do our utmost to try to maintain the sports budget. Across the Department we have held this budget as best we can in comparison to other areas. We try to build up the high-performance funding through the Irish Sports Council in the lead-up to Olympic years. The greater demand is in the Olympic year itself.