Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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There are questions that still need to be asked here of Sport Ireland despite a note accounting for a change in accounting policy and the ring-fencing of grant aid. The underutilisation of €4 million in 2022 and the further underutilisation of nearly €6 million in 2023 involve staggering amounts of money that could have been, and probably should have been, fed down the chain to sports clubs. It certainly warrants writing to them to ask for further clarity and an explanatory note on this. I would be interested to see whether it continued on into 2024. There are also questions to be asked of the Department of sport in this regard. The committee should write to the Department. Is it enough to call the representatives in? I am not sure but I understand there might have been difficulties getting Sport Ireland to appear before the last committee. Is that correct? It was flagged the other day in the context of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association and Sport Ireland. If it was the case - perhaps that could be clarified with the clerk - it could be the pathway forward to call them in. I am very strong in my view that we need further information from Sport Ireland and we also need further information from the Department of sport on this.