Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With the Chair's indulgence, I have one further question. Contrasting Cycling Ireland with the IABA, in Cycling Ireland we had a board which voluntarily stepped aside. Excellent volunteers like Dr. Tom Daly and Ms Helen Kerrane stepped up to the mark. As is clear from the weekend, the outgoing IABA board has lost the confidence of the clubs and members. It certainly arguable and our committee put it to Sport Ireland that because the outgoing board lost support, no matter what governance proposal the outgoing central council put, it was never going to carry with the members. There was a correct response in terms of what happened with Cycling Ireland, in contrast with what happened in the IABA. The approach of Sport Ireland and the Minister to the IABA should be to engage with the new council and not be talking about threatening funding cuts. That is appropriate obviously if there is no governance reform but that reform in the IABA was not going to come as the existing regime did not have the confidence of the members.