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

On the governance issue Deputy Munster raised, we decided to go with a mandatory basis for national governing bodies, as much to protect them as everybody else. Sport Ireland is the statutory agency with which the national governing bodies liaise and it is from Sport Ireland that they derive their funding. Under the Sport Ireland Act, once a policy statement is made by the Government on specific aspects of the administration of Sport Ireland it then carries out that function through its board and chief executive. That is the manner in which it is being done. The bodies have been given a timeframe and they are working towards it. Many of them have already completed the process. Some of the larger ones have already moved to the mandatory code. It is likely that some of the smaller national governing bodies will encounter difficulties because of the lack of human resources available to them and Sport Ireland will mentor them and assist them through the process to ensure they can complete it as quickly as possible within the timeframe. We have a staggered timeframe. Those bodies with 25 employees and above will be first and the smaller ones are being given a longer lead-in.