Ms Sarah Keane:

Good collaboration is happening. For example, there is a UK Sport schools event in five sports, including swimming. Originally, only athletes from Northern Ireland were invited to participate but swimming now sends an all-Ireland team. This event is funded by the UK Government. Smaller events are happening that are supporting the all-island side of things. Quite a number of the programmes within the organisations are all-island so from that perspective, a team that goes to the Commonwealth Games is prepared by the all-island personnel - the national performance director of the team - so it is fully supported. There are athletes and coaches who want to represent Northern Ireland. They feel that sometimes it is their only opportunity to represent Northern Ireland. They are still very proud to represent Ireland on other stages. This factor needs to be considered. Most of the athletes with whom we work are, as Mr. Treacy noted, supported by all-island personnel and systems.