Mr. Adrian Tennant:

That is correct. I am the volunteer on this panel, which is in front of the committee. My role and the role of our board of directors is to speak on behalf of the volunteers and ensure Scouting Ireland is being run appropriately and is fit for purpose.

One of the key things the last year has shown and the reason we were taken aback by the commentary about the helpline is that Scouting Ireland has what I would call an appropriate reliance on our professional staff. What the hell does that mean? What I mean by that is that there is no doubt in our minds, as volunteers, that Scouting Ireland could not run without the 14,000 of us. We have more volunteers than An Garda Síochána and Óglaigh na hÉireann combined. That army of volunteers serves this country well in providing a really good, safe, solid programme throughout the island, North and South. We cannot do that on our own, however. In this regard, I must refer to our small cohort of professional staff, despite everything that has gone on in the past few years. I do not wish to single out any group but the safeguarding team, in particular, has come under an awful lot of scrutiny. I want the members to hear from me, as a volunteer in the 13th Wexford scout group in Wexford town rather than as a chairman, that the organisation is being served well and is totally indebted to and reliant on the goodwill and professionalism of our staff team. This is not said enough. It is not said enough in any place of employment, probably. If it were, I probably would not have a job. With regard to Scouting Ireland, it is not said enough. The vast majority of our volunteers, to a man and woman, really appreciate what our professional staff do. I am referring to group support, provincial support, administrative staff and our management team, but particularly our safeguarding team. Considering the reason we are sitting here, the members might be surprised by the language I am using now but we are trying to have a service centre of excellence for how we manage safeguarding in Scouting Ireland and to be a bastion for other organisations. We can do that as volunteers but we cannot do it without our safeguarding team.