Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to hear the €60,000 honorarium payment has been stopped.

In regard to Sport Ireland, the witness has said that it is tasked with governance and performance. Where was the governance? Did Sport Ireland really not know what was going on? Was it completely unaware of the issues until the Brazilian authorities took action? If its task is governance and performance, how did it not know what was going on? Why were no questions asked? Mr. Mulvey said that he tread around the OCI with delicate feet.

In other words, he tiptoed around the OCI and focused, as he stated about half an hour ago, on high performance. The board was not doing its job if it did not tackle governance and tiptoed around it. The exact words Mr. Mulvey used was that Sport Ireland "kept it to high performance", which means it allowed governance to sail.

In 2016, in the aftermath of Rio, the voluntary code of governance was introduced by the Minister in a very welcome move. Did Sport Ireland at any stage recommend that such a voluntary code was needed given its experience and knowledge? If so, when and to whom did it make such a recommendation?

On the payment of €60,000 to the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, in response to my earlier question as to whether this payment was made from public moneys, I was informed it was not. Did Sport Ireland not have an opinion on this payment? The new president of the Olympic Council of Ireland put a stop to it. Given that Sport Ireland is charged and tasked with governance, did it not believe there was something morally wrong with making an annual payment of €60,000 that was to be backdated? Did it speak out publicly about the payment or flag it with the Minister? With whom did it raise the issue and what action did it take?

We heard what the new code of governance will allow Sport Ireland to do. Until now, however, Sport Ireland has been unable to audit an organisation which receives less than 50% of its funding from Sport Ireland. Has the position changed in this regard? Under the voluntary code of governance, will it be possible for Sport Ireland to audit any organisation in receipt of State funding?