Ms Sarah Keane:

-----earlier in 2017. That was one of the first actions of the new board. I speak for the full board when I say that we are confident that we are going to continue on that journey.

I met the former president of the OCI. I looked for and instigated the meeting. The board members of the Olympic Council were aware of this and they were also debriefed afterwards at a meeting. The meeting with my predecessor was a courtesy meeting between us as the new and former presidents of the OCI. He wished me well in my role. He offered his support. I asked him about his health and his family. There were three main things we talked about at the meeting. It is the only meeting we have had. I asked him about THG and whether there was an agreement in place for future games. I specifically mentioned 2020, which was the one on my radar. I will explain why I asked and hopefully that may also help the committee to understand the ticketing arrangements more clearly.

Shortly after the election of the new board, we asked our solicitors to review the contractual ticketing arrangements and agreements that were in place. It is complex stuff and we want to try to understand it. As part of the documentation found by the staff on a search of the office, we became aware of two contracts, which we also provided to Mr. Justice Moran. One was a contract signed in 2010, which was well before my time as a board member. This contract appointed THG as the authorised ticket reseller for London and Sochi, the 2012 and 2014 Summer and Winter Olympic Games. It also had options to enter into agreements in respect of Rio and the 2018 Games. This contract was approved by the board according to minutes that I have seen since then and that Mr. Justice Moran has also seen. It was approved by the board in 2010.

In my view, it is appropriate that a board should approve a contract of that nature.

A second contract was entered into in 2012. That is obviously before my time. This contract exercised the option in the 2010 contract and appointed THG as the authorised ticket reseller for Rio 2016 and for the winter games in PyeongChang in 2018. It also gave options for the summer games 2020 and the winter games in 2022. From everything we have seen, it does not appear that this contract was board approved or brought to the attention of the board. Mr. Justice Moran said that in his report. Again, this was all before my time.

We went looking for more emails and paperwork to see what happened in relation to these options and if there were further agreements which had been entered into post-2018, because there were options in the 2012 agreement around them. We saw emails and paperwork that seemed to say that further agreements were in place. However, we had nothing definitive and no agreements and that is why I asked the former president about what was in place. I received an open response. He said he was pretty sure we were signed up for 2020, and that the relevant signed agreement should be in the office. The committee has heard that we asked the staff to search the office. We could not find signed agreements so on that basis, we pursued the matter through lawyers. Only a couple of weeks ago, in July, we received from THG lawyers copies of signed agreements appointing THG as the OCI authorised ticket reseller for 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2026.

These agreements were signed in January and February 2016. They never came before the board. I had no knowledge, and I doubt many other board members had knowledge, that they even existed until earlier this year. We could not confirm that they existed until we found out whether or not signed legal agreements were in place. Our solicitors are currently considering the validity of these agreements and the matter will be discussed in detail, with appropriate legal advice, at the upcoming board meeting of the Olympic council, which will take place on 30 August.

I also asked the former president about the reconciliation of moneys as we were being asked questions by Mr. Justice Moran that we could not answer. We gave all the information we could but we could not answer some of the questions we were asked. Mr. Hickey said that he did not have the information to hand himself but would revert if he had any further information. I spoke to him about the honorarium for 2016 and explained to him that the board had made a decision that no honorarium would be paid to him for 2016 and no honorariums would be paid to any board member in future. The final matter on which we spoke was that he confirmed to me that he would not be involved in the Olympic Council of Ireland while he was facing charges in Brazil. That is the only time I spoke to the former president since my election.

The honorarium was agreed before my time. It was passed by a decision of the board in 2009, not 2015. A payment was made in 2015 for the previous years based on what was approved by the board in 2009 and it was also in the financial statements of the organisation. That is what prompted me to ask a question about the honorarium because we, as a board, were asked to approve the financial statements. It was referenced in the financial statements. There was a suggestions that it might have been hidden but later in the financial statements, it was stated in a line. I was told that all relevant tax and other matters had been looked after and it was a decision of the board in previous years.