Mr. Kieran Mulvey:

In light of statements made earlier by the Minister, there is some additional information I want to add. Both Mr. John Treacy and I travelled to Rio on 12 August last year. We flew economy class in line with Government policy on these matters to the effect that we should not sit at the front of the bus when our athletes and performers are at the back. I was aware before we left that there was considerable controversy regarding the ticketing arrangements for the athletes' family and friends, a matter that was raised on phone-ins to various programmes and by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan during his trip to Rio.

On the evening of 13 August of last year, John and I met officials of the OCI at a dinner on an informal basis and raised with them the specific issue of the availability of tickets for families and the difficulties they seemed to be encountering in getting them. I was not that familiar with THG or Pro10 and the issues relating to them were not in my ken at that stage, but we did raise the matter with the OCI officials. Mr. Justice Moran adequately describes the situation in paragraphs 4.6 to 4.11 on pages 55 to 60, inclusive, of his report. When we raised the availability of tickets and having a central point at which athletes and their families could obtain tickets, either through the Olympic village or somewhere else - for example, a hotel that they could go to - we did get what Mr. Justice Moran describes in the report, namely, information on arrangements that had been made prior to the departure for Rio for athletes and their families. At the end of the conversation, I was totally confused as to how anyone could access tickets at that stage. That is why the report mirrors the confusion about what arrangements had been made and the contradictory statements that seem to have been made between families of the athletes and officers of the OCI as to what briefings, knowledge or information had been available. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, had raised the matter with us so we also took the opportunity to raise it but, alas, we did not make any progress on it.

For clarity, Mr. Treacy and I received one accreditation each. We received no other tickets for anyone, family or otherwise. No arrangement was in place for that. We received the accreditation in the context of our roles as chairman and chief executive. This was an improvement on London, incidentally, where we shared half an accreditation each. I went for one week and Mr. Treacy, being familiar with the Olympic cycle, went for the second week when all the medals were won. I said to him "The next time we go, we will go on an equal basis so that I can watch some of the medalling too."

We then had the arrest of an Irish citizen, Mr. Kevin Mallon, and the international headlines that created. There was considerable discussion back in Ireland and concerns expressed which was reported to us through various channels and by the Minister on his arrival in Rio. There was his futile meeting with Mr. Pat Hickey at that point regarding some kind of investigation, inquiry or whatever term was used.

This created further difficulties and a stand-off followed. Donning my professional hat, having been previously involved in mediation and conciliation, I contacted the assistant secretary with responsibility for sport and tourism, Mr. Ken Spratt, and Mr. Willie O'Brien, the first vice president, and met them to see if we could thrash out some arrangement to which the Minister and the president of the OCI would be agreeable. This process took place on the 15th and 16th, with an agreement being concluded on the afternoon of the 16th which I remember well because it occurred just before Annalise Murphy won her glorious silver medal such that we were then available to attend the award ceremony to congratulate her on her success. The process took a considerable amount of time and a great deal of toing and froing because of the issues at stake in terms of the Minister's need to respond to concerns on behalf of the Government and the public in Ireland about what was happening with the ticketing arrangements and from the point of view of the Olympic Council of Ireland in terms of its independence.

As alluded to by Mr. Treacy and Mr. Justice Moran in his report, there had been constant tension over a considerable timeframe - for decades - between the former Irish Sports Council and then Sport Ireland and the various manifestations. With the assistance of Mr. Spratt and Mr. Willie O'Brien, on the afternoon of the 16th we managed to reach an arrangement to which the Minister and Mr. Hickey agreed. Later that evening, with Mr. Treacy, I attended a reception at the Italian Embassy, where we met officers of the Olympic Council of Ireland, the Minister and the assistant secretary. On that occasion, I pressed the Minister to formally give his agreement to what he had agreed privately with me, namely, that an independent person be appointed. I think the Minister referenced at the time the appointment of a retired High Court judge, but my memory in that regard is not absolute, given what was going on. The Minister contacted me twice that evening about the agreement such that we would be able to at least say peace had reigned and that there would be an investigation. I received a telephone call at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. the next day from Mr. Treacy during which he told me about the shock news of the arrest such that the agreement that had been reached was moot. Other incidents and activities took place in that regard.

On my appointment as chairman of Sport Ireland a number of years ago it became clear to me from briefings I received at that stage that there was a history of conflict, or perceived conflict, between the Olympic Council of Ireland and the then Irish Sports Council in regard to the Olympic Games and the arrangements between them and that I was to endeavour to ensure this would not continue and that a new modus operandi and a mutual peace would break out. I put in a lot of effort for a number years, in the case of the OCI, into ensuring there would be no incidents at international level that would bring us into disrepute. It was not the first time this happened. It had happened at other Olympic Games, with some Ministers being subjected to questioning or arguments about accreditation, as alluded to by Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe. There were also other incidents, in respect of which the independent status of the OCI was at issue. This also arose with the establishment of the Irish Sports Council. There is a history in that regard to which Mr. Justice Moran alludes in the report without going into detail. It is important to make that point.

For a number of years Sport Ireland has put a lot of effort into its engagement with the OCI on the transitional and implementation arrangements and agreements for Olympic cycles and this work continues. As a result, relationships improved immensely and have since been copperfastened following our meeting on 6 April with officers of the Olympic Council of Ireland which the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, attended, at which Ms Keane and her colleagues outlined to us the steps they had taken and would be taking to implement reforms within the OCI.

We outlined our expectation of working with the OCI regarding those reforms and assisting in any way we could without interfering in the organisation directly in that regard but bearing in mind our concerns about the voluntary code it has adopted and also the concerns of the Minister. A significant amount of work has been going on in the undergrowth while this report was in progress because the Olympic Council of Ireland is vitally important to this country. It is the representative body of the International Olympic Committee, which sanctions, charters and authorises our participation in the Olympics and the participation of our athletes through the international federations and the rules and regulations. We are co-partners in that endeavour and in all we do. For example, over the four-year cycle of the Rio Olympics €31 million of taxpayers' money was expended in terms of assisting our federations nationally and through the international federations to compete at European, world and Olympic levels. Athletes received direct funding of a further €6.5 million in that period. That was done against a background of a €10 million deficit in our funding since 2008. Like all State agencies, we have had to take the hit. Our athlete and Olympic funding for Rio 2016 operated on the same basis as for London 2012 and we are endeavouring to increase Government funding for the Tokyo Olympics, which is only three years away this month.

Sport Ireland, its board and executive take its funding obligations, authority and other obligations seriously. We rigorously assess the arrangements for all funding. We fund over 60 organisations on an annual basis, ranging from the smallest of voluntary sports activity with little or no full-time executive to the highest level organisations in terms of field sports such as the GAA, the FAI and the IRFU, along with the Paralympics and the OCI. In a sense, we have a broad church to service, with broad levels of expertise, competence, ability, funding and so on. I would like to put on record that the London Olympics was Ireland's best performance but the performance in Rio was also exceptional in terms of what our athletes achieved such as personal bests and other achievements. Irish athletes won medals in two new sports. Disappointment obviously arose in regard to boxing. Thomas Barr was one micro second away from a bronze Olympic medal. We have to build on that. As Ms Keane indicated, that is already happening through our participation in sports.

The issue of governance, be it in the voluntary sector or otherwise, is always difficult. That has been seen in the charity and education sectors and is no less an issue in the sporting sector. However, in so far as we can, we keep a tight rein on the money we are allocated and the stewardship that organisations must provide for that and which we must oversee. The second issue in that regard is we have to draw and tread a fine line between the autonomy of those organisations, be that international or domestic autonomy, and the necessity for us to have oversight and sometimes intrude upon organisations, as evidenced recently in the disputes we had with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association when this year we had to take a strong stance on the code and the governance of the code. That is not always welcome, appreciated or understood but we make such decisions with due deliberation at board level and with all available evidence but not before long periods in which we have engaged with the organisations.

We do not have, would never be allowed to have and do not desire a role in the ticketing and commercial arrangements that any organisation enters into. That would not be within our brief nor in the legislation pertaining to Sport Ireland and it would draw us into a panoply of activity for which we are not funded, resourced or capable of performing. We leave that sphere of activity to the organisations themselves to carry out in accordance with company legislation requirements, the law, and, hopefully, the voluntary code we have decided to adopt and bring about in each organisation.

We are trying to work with each organisation to have them adapt, operate and monitor the code themselves, while we provide for external monitoring.

Sport Ireland welcomes the course taken by Ms Keane, her colleagues and officers in the Olympic Council of Ireland, which marks a new departure. We are all well aware of the council's history. Having digested and analysed this issue and seen what has happened, I would like to think we have collectively engaged in a new departure. What we need to do now is move towards the Tokyo Olympics which are three short years away and ensure our athletes who are making commitments to the Tokyo programme will be funded, respected, cosseted and developed. Facilities are being provided under the aegis of the Government through the national indoor arena and a commitment has been given to develop a second phase of the arena. We are putting in place structures and, I hope, concurrent funding which will give athletes a surety of our commitment that if they qualify, structures, funding and so forth will be in place for them. That is the message we need to give on behalf of Sport Ireland.

I would also like the message from these sessions of the joint committee to be that the athletes who did wonderfully well did us proud and that the things that happened were beyond their control. It is up to us to rectify these matters and ensure they will not recur. We must not have circumstances where knowledge is not forthcoming, due diligence does not apply or appropriate oversight is not provided for.