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

The witnesses are welcome. We are a sports-mad country and do not spend nearly enough on sport, which produces a great dividend in terms of the social return. I was on the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport during the FAI debacle. The lack of regulation took us by surprise. I started raising that issue at that committee regarding the FAI because it came in the aftermath of the Olympic Council ticketing scandal in Rio. Huge reputational damage was done to those sports and to the country by the Olympic Council scandal, which had an international dimension. We could not get over the fact that there was no regulation or nobody regulating what we expected would be regulated. I had hoped the remit of Sport Ireland or another organisation would fill that gap but that has not happened. There is a common denominator with much of this, and that is a strong individual who is almost above the sport. It is unfortunate we are seeing issues relating to individuals emerging in boxing as well. I will not labour the point but there is a significant gap and we are all identifying it.

A repayable grant was extended to the FAI for the stadium as part of the memorandum of agreement. Is that on course now? The annual grant provided by Sport Ireland to the organisation will from next year be deducted by €1 million per year until it is paid off. Has anything changed on that or is it still on course?