Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We must admit, with reference to the chain of command, that the FAI is functioning. I attended an event held by the Federation of Irish Sport and the Irish Sport Industry awards. As we give out about the FAI, three or four of its supporters' projects were nominated for awards and one or two won. What started out on 17 March as a question about accounting practices and procedures has become a major issue for the sports organisation, rightly so. I must put up my hand and say major changes are needed.

How to go about it is for the FAI to decide but with the proper level of pressure exerted by Sport Ireland, the committee and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. We have to rely on the grassroots up along the line in terms of how it will work. People are critical of directors' performance. It all comes down to implementation of good governance practices.

I come from north Cork, a big farming area. We have a successful co-operative in our backyard. It has a turnover not of €50 million but four or ten times that amount and many of its board members came up through the ranks. Some of them perhaps just went to national or secondary school. With the help of the organisation, they were funded and educated to become directors of a company before they joined the board. We should not lose sight of this. A person does not need to be a lawyer, an accountant or a successful businessman in Dublin to be a board member of any company. We should allow people to become board members, provided they are properly educated or attend training courses. This should be taken on board.

I have one or two questions for Sport Ireland. It made recommendations. Did it also ask Mazars to take on board some of them in the terms of reference? It was stated Sport Ireland had seen the terms of reference.