Mr. Paul McDermott:

We will have to have increasing focus on those programmes which will deliver medals. It is a competitive process. When people come in for funding it is competitive. If a sport is not delivering we have to look at their funding and if a sport is growing we have to try to resource it. It is very tough to make those strategic decisions and to effectively reduce or close programmes or disappoint athletes. It is easier to do it if there is an increasing resource. It is very difficult to do it with a static resource, and to take from one programme to give to another. That is a very difficult choice for us to make, but if we have to make those choices we are not afraid to.

We are starting the Tokyo cycle. We have investment principles agreed with the board of Sport Ireland. We are going to talk to all the sports and all the stakeholders. If the resource is at that level, in order to get the biggest return on that investment we will have to be more focused. We accept that. This point has been made a number of times, and we accept it. We work constantly, daily, with the sports, with Paralympics Ireland, with the institute and with the service providers to make sure that the athlete is at the centre of the system and that everyone is working together for that athlete, that coach or that team. In order to generate best performance one has to make sure that everybody is dealing with the one plan. We have made significant strides. The fact that a lot of athletes are based at the institute in Abbotstown and the National Aquatics Centre has helped enormously because it gives visibility. We have additional plans to strengthen that system and to put more people from our side on the ground. We have the institute's service providers on the ground. The Senator is right to raise the point, because it is a performance issue, but we are working on it and we have pushed very considerably in recent years to get it right.