Dr. Tom Daly:

To get back to the question on safety, Ms Kerrane mentioned the Cycling Ireland arrangement in Northern Ireland. Initial steps in that regard have been made in the South. Our CEO recently visited the relevant people at Garda headquarters to initiate a discussion on the matter. He was accompanied by one or more of our members from Northern Ireland who were involved in the development of that scheme in the North of Ireland. Initial steps have been made to, it is hoped, make progress in that area. It relates to the standardisation of safety issues in the context of the running of events, the enhancement of all that and giving reassurance to the Garda and the public on how it might operate.

I can only reinforce Ms Kerrane's observations on who is representing cyclists on the board.

I may stand to be corrected but I do not believe there is any person on the board who is not a cyclist of one type or another. Quite a number of us have been heavily involved in clubs all our lives. It is fair to say that members who do not have that experience are very anxious and working hard to learn about the organisation and the people involved in it.

The Deputy's final question was on the funding of our key events. We aim to give appropriate and proportionate funding to all key events. There was a higher level of funding given to Rás Tailteann this year, as opposed to Rás na mBan, for a number of reasons. One reason was a commitment given by the previous board. The other is that, as the Deputy will be well aware, Rás Tailteann has a tremendously important strategic role in Irish cycling as a motivator and a pathway from the crucial underage and junior levels into the senior, high-performance level. We need to be able to showcase the event in order for it to attract commercial sponsorship and for it to be able to stand on its own two feet. The increased funding this year was to enable it to be resurrected after a lacuna of a number of years in order that it could be highlighted to potential sponsors. That was part of the reason, as well as the value of the event itself. It has been made clear to the Rás Tailteann organisation that this increased level of funding will not be sustained by Cycling Ireland.