Mr. Kieran Mulvey:

I did not use a credit card myself in any of the organisations I was in because, unfortunately, they get muddled if it is not done right. The second thing which we will learn from this is that this will strengthen what we have been trying to do on the journey around corporate governance. Many sporting bodies, in light of what has happened here over recent weeks, will be, and I hope they will be, looking at their own organisations and asking whether they have appropriate oversight over their finances and whether they are getting sufficient reporting from their executives and full-time body.

In Sport Ireland every financial decision we make on funding, auditors, contracts or whatever else is approved by the board on substantive documentation. It is one thing on which I insist. There is a separate vote on expenditure in Sport Ireland. That will help us when we may have to say to some sports organisations that we are not happy or that matters have come to our attention.

The other issue for us in respect of corporate governance is trying to ensure the balance that is necessary between policy and oversight by the board and the functionality of chief executives or officers. That is important. We work very well with our own chief executive, with whom we have an understanding. We go through things elaborately and he informs if he is or is not happy with it. Sometimes there is a healthy or an unhealthy tension within organisations.