John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister articulating the chronology relating to the events that occurred last year and the establishment of inquiry that produced the report before us. I agree that certain facts have been established in the report. There is also a view that the report raises more questions than answers and that if it had received the co-operation of other major stakeholders, Mr. Justice Moran's inquiry had much more potential regarding its work. It is regrettable that those stakeholders did not co-operate as much as they could have done. In such circumstances, one must wonder whether there is an argument as to why the inquiry proceeded if five of the six major stakeholders did not co-operate with it. When did the Minister become aware that Pro10, THG, the IOC and the Rio Organising Committee of the Olympic Games were not going to co-operate with the inquiry as a result of events in the courts? The latter committee did not respond to Mr. Justice Moran at all. Was there any consultation between the Minister and Mr. Justice Moran? As the inquiry was ongoing, was the Minister aware that all of these entities were not co-operating?

Did any member of the OCI executive, Sport Ireland or any of the governing bodies ever raise with the Minister or the Department in advance of the controversy of last year concerns regarding governance? Did they raise concerns at some stage that there were no checks and balances in place?

We will ask the OCI later why some flags were not raised prior to the controversy last year. In the chronology of events in Mr. Justice Moran's report, the involvement of THG, for instance, began as far back as 2009. There was not a reconciliation of events after the 2012 Olympics either. The public will find it hard to understand why flags were not raised by either the OCI or Sport Ireland prior to the controversy.

On the funds which have been withheld from the OCI, will the Minister outline how much of this has been held back and to what years this applies? If and when funding to the OCI recommences, will it be retrospective? Will it include the funding that was withheld for 2016?

Finally, what happens next? Is everything stalled because of court proceedings? If these court proceedings drag on indefinitely, will that mean that the implementation of reform or establishing a new outlook in terms of governance of sport in Ireland will be restricted?