John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and wish them the best of luck for tomorrow. I have been in Abbotstown on a number of occasions and it is a fantastic development.

Time is limited so I will go straight to the governance issues. How closely do Sport Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport monitor the day-to-day activities of governing bodies and how are they held to account? Boxing has been mentioned. From the perspective of the public looking on, there seemed to be a total breakdown in discipline following the departure of Billy Walsh. There is a definitive difference between coaching and managing. Zaur Antia is the top coach in the world but Billy Walsh's management role was totally missed. I refer, for example, to the specifics of Paddy Barnes's weight issue and the fact that he could not perform due to his need to meet the weight. Michael O'Reilly did not train with the squad. Apart from the doping issue, why was he allowed to travel to the Olympics when he did not train with the squad? As regards the doping investigation, following his failed dope test, one could not make up the story in the sense that the draw was made in Rio when the news broke in Ireland. What is the sequence of events when a dope test is failed? Who knows or who should know? Why did the media have the information? It was unfair on the coaches who had to meet the media when they did not know he had failed the dope test.

As regards the management of the boxing team, there is a manager from the governing body but is there any management by the high performance unit? Who performed the management in the lead-up to the Olympics? One has the governing body, the high performance unit and the Olympic Council of Ireland. What is happening between those three bodies is that to a certain extent the athletes are falling through the cracks. I have raised the issue previously. One does one's four year preparation and one changes the management team when one gets to the Olympics. That has not worked and needs to be examined. Heads need to be knocked together to get it right. I do not have to go back to the Gary Keegan incident when he could not even get into the stadium.