Mr. John Treacy:

I will answer that question. While our oversight in respect of the finance is very clear in terms of the OCI, we did not have the authority to do audits of corporate governance because the level of funding is less than 50%. The level of funding is 30%. Therefore, we did not have the authority to do it. The policy change by the Minister is a huge shift. Essentially, the Minister is saying that, as a policy decision of Government, everyone has to sign up to the code. I have a couple things to say on that.

I would not want to tar everyone with the same brush. Many governing bodies have very good programmes in place and good corporate governance. Implementing the new code is a process and cannot be done by simply ticking a box. To do it well it needs to be done over the course of a year and some organisations are there already.

I will give a snapshot of the various things we have put in place since the Minister made his announcement. We are not asking NGBs to do this on their own. They have a plethora of programmes of which they can avail to get them across the line. We have an advisory support service, which is external, so that all NGBs have access to free, independent, expert advice on governance matters and assistance with the development of government policies and procedures. We offer programmes for boards in government skills, knowledge training and access to free training support, which is in-house, and a training journal as well as classroom training seminars and masterclasses. The Carmichael Centre launched an elearning resource, which features a step-by-step guide to implementing the governance code. Sport Ireland has offered, free of charge to the funded bodies, an opportunity to secure a licence to avail of all these services at no cost to the organisations. We also host, on an annual basis, a conference on governance at which we raise issues that come up in audits during the course of the year.

Ultimately, one needs leadership with chairs and chief executives driving the organisation and driving change but they are voluntary organisations and succession planning does not always happen, leaving a body with a new chair and back at square one, having to start again. The new policy direction from the Minister will enable us to monitor how the NGBs are doing in implementing the governance code. It is a self-assessment system which we will audit. The bodies have until 2019-2020 to get this across the line and I have no doubt that the issue around funding will be a great catalyst.