Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have another question regarding reputational damage in sport. I understand the remit of Sport Ireland is to develop sports. This issue came up when I was on the sports committee regarding the Football Association of Ireland, FAI. It was blindingly obvious there was a problem and I was the one who looked for the FAI governance arrangements to be considered by the sports committee at the time. I am very pleased to see the progress that has been made and I think people are voting with their feet on that. It does not negate the damage done, and there is a residual damage. For example, there is no sponsor for the senior men's team. Reputational damage impacts the income of a sport. We saw exactly the same thing with the Olympic Council of Ireland and there have been other, probably less high-profile, cases.

If a sporting organisation is not governed correctly and if these things are not picked up, there is no doubt that they fester and then do gigantic reputational damage. Does the Department recognise that there is a regulatory gap in the area of sport? If it does, what is being done to remedy that?