Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In addition to the second-last point made by Deputy Barry, I raised the issue with the Minister yesterday because it is hugely important and goes to the heart of the issue. In the brief he received, Mr. Justice Moran was not asked to look at future Olympic deals and nobody expected that he would have to. The report involved looking back to Rio and London. Even though he had the powers to inquire into other issues, Mr. Justice Moran was not asked to look at any future deals that might have been done. On page 210 of the report, he comments that there was evidence of a possibility of further deals but he did not know that there were and we did not know until this week. I am not asking the Minister to give an answer today because it requires reflection by the Minister and Department but the point I would make is that if Mr. Justice Moran was asked to produce a new module solely relating to the 2016 agreement about future Olympic Games, which was commented on by the OCI during the week, and to come back with a report on that, the Government would have to change the terms of reference of the inquiry because he was not asked to look at future deals that might have been done at that time. The benefit to all of us here and the whole country is that we could then bring in witnesses to discuss that report and it would mean that we would not have to go through convoluted legal processes relating to compellability of witnesses or anything like that because there are no criminal issues relating to this issue, there is no criminal investigation in any jurisdiction and it would provide closure. The key thing here is to get closure regarding the issues that have arisen to allow the Minister and Department to fund the OCI into the future, provided it signs up to all the agreements. We need to restore credibility to the process. What we really need to look at is the future of sport, future athletes and how we support them. We must separate the two things. The Minister and Department can support them if this issue is finally put to bed and if Mr. Hickey is here as a witness. Not only this committee but the whole country wants to hear his answers about an issue to which no criminal legal issues attach. That is the most important decision we could make because we would then have closure in a public forum regarding these issues and the Minister, the OCI and Sport Ireland could move on.