Mr. Phil Doyle:

I will respond to Senator Mark Daly on one thing we could change for the athletes. As well as receiving funding from the Government, Rowing Ireland receives separate funding on our performances throughout the year from Sport Ireland. This funding runs from January to January. It starts on 1 January when one becomes a carded athlete. One then receives one's first payment on 1 April and there are three-monthly payments ranging from €12,000 to €20,000 and up to €40,000, depending on performance. For example, there are certain people who have won the world championships in September and now they are expected to not be in university and to be funded by parents, family and friends. Commercial sponsorship is difficult to get. I was such an athlete last September and there are athletes in the same position now. There is no review of funding and performance between January of one year and January of the next year. These individuals are expected to fully fund themselves in Cork during an accommodation crisis. I am a Northern athlete from Belfast and the rent prices are extortionate in Cork. Getting rental accommodation is difficult. Putting down a deposit, paying the first month of rent and all the additional costs are also difficult. Athletes are expected to do that without receiving a penny until April. That is seven months of athletes fully supporting and funding themselves while rowing full-time. Feeding a rower is difficult as well and it costs a lot of money. My mum has been complaining about it non-stop for the last month because I have moved home after the world championships.

Something in the system that could be looked into is to reassess funding requirements and to make changes to it throughout the year. For example, because I am from the North, I get access to Great Britain and Ireland. I have made my decision and am very happy with it but I have a lot of contacts over there and they get funding reassessments three or four times per year. As athletes move in and out of the squad and the system, and as they perform or do not perform, they have their funding adjusted according to their needs. That would be massively helpful, especially in getting people onto the programme. For example, I am qualified as a doctor so last year I had to go back to work for four months over Christmas because I could not afford to row full-time coming out of university with no money, savings or job. As my parents could not afford to keep me down in Cork full-time, I had to take time out of the boat, which meant my doubles partner, Ronan Byrne, was on his own in Cork and I was training on my own in Belfast while working a full-time job in a hospital to try to get through because there was no way to reassess my requirements or funding needs during that time. Eventually, when I knew the money would be coming in on 1 April I had some savings and was able to make the transition down to Cork. I do not know how people do that without having a job to go to in the middle of Christmas. It must be very difficult.