Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is brilliant. As I am generally circular in how I speak, apologies if I come back on myself at any stage. I welcome a great number of things that have been said with regard to all-Ireland co-ordination, which is obviously necessary. As for dealing with NPHET, it probably would be fair to say that when the restrictions were introduced in respect of gyms, there was a lag-time of a couple of days with regard to clarity. People were saying that only six people were allowed in a gym or only six were allowed in any exercise class. People then started reporting to me that they heard this somewhere. I was going to say that they were not even naming Dr. Ronan Glynn properly, so I assumed they had not heard it properly. I had to relisten to every utterance made by Dr. Glynn, the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly and the Taoiseach and I did not hear what I was being told I was hearing. It was a case that people believed or thought they heard something and started operating pods within gyms. It all sounded like they were doing the correct thing but I was not sure they were covered by the rules.

I then heard that Basketball Ireland obviously had made an approach and had sought information. It entered my head that nobody had probably considered indoor basketball games. That is fair enough because not everything can be covered with a blunt instrument. However, one needs to get on top of it as quickly as possible. Two or three days later Basketball Ireland got its update, which stated that indoor training could operate within pods of six. It is about ensuring the conversation is happening between NPHET, the Government, the Department, Sport Ireland and all these bodies to avoid wobbles like that, which are not absolutely necessary.

We talked about business models before. There are an awful lot of sports. I am thinking of a number of combat sports that I do myself, albeit pretty badly.

They would not necessarily have governing bodies that are recognised by Sport Ireland, etc., at this point in time. They operate on the basis of a basic business model. I do not mean that they make crazy money but they charge people to take part and one hopes that it washes its face with whatever other funding and allocations they can get. Many of them would have been put under pressure when that happened. This is to ensure that we have clarity and that we maintain as much as we can, even with heightened restrictions that may happen in the future.