Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To take the last point first, it is very important that the Olympic Council of Ireland presidency election be as open and accountable as possible. I wish the contenders well. No more than is the case for the people who come into these Houses, it is not easy to put one's name on a ballot paper. I welcome the fact that the election will be held in an open forum.

On the amounts yet to be drawn down, we will get a detailed answer for the Deputy but my understanding is that those amounts are paid on receipt of vouched expenses so if there is an amount that has yet to be drawn down, it is awaiting correspondence perhaps from the OCI to Sport Ireland. We will get clarification on that for the Deputy and forward it to him.

Everybody will understand that the Olympic Council of Ireland would have to contend with an element of expenses, but nobody would disagree with Deputy Troy's sentiments about player and athlete welfare.

In the aftermath of the Olympic Games and the Paralympics, and it is important we would not forget the Paralympics because our athletes were hugely successful in Rio and did the country proud, we had an athletes forum in Farmleigh for the first time, which I convened, to give athletes from the Paralympics and the Olympic Games an opportunity to come in and give their views on their experience of the Olympics. Some of the issues raised were not what I would have expected. They raised issues such as tax implications, access to third level and the way college courses are structured in terms of the cycle of athletes and the Olympic cycle. The event was not what we, as non-athletes, would have expected or what would have been in the media. That has fed into the Rio review by Sport Ireland, the report of which it is due to publish shortly. It will also publish a review of Ireland's performance in boxing and a review of Ireland's participation in the Paralympics. Those reports are being commissioned under the auspices of Sport Ireland but for the Department, and they will be published. Once those reports are completed I would encourage the committee members to invite us to come before it again.