Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is a big fan of football and he might have an interest in playing a role on a particular board. To deprive him of his input would not be fair to him, as an elected representative. There may be people like him in other sports who want to play a role. We need to have good structures around governance that underpin best practice, that have independence, good sub-committees and that are based on a broad range of recommendations. It is important not to kind of categorise or exclude elected representatives from participating within the amateur side of sport. It would not be fair. It is about the underpinning structure of a board within sport and what the level of best practice is. It is about looking at the structures that are in place. There will be some democratic input into sporting organisations in terms of people coming through a sport who may happen to be elected representatives simultaneously. Would the Deputy remove any elected representative from any board anywhere?