Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I accept it is taxpayers' money. Deputy Mitchell tossed out a figure of €1 million but nowhere was that figure mentioned - certainly not of that scale. Irrespective of the sum, it is taxpayers' money and one must be accountable for it. The report was sought on 15 March so I am not surprised it has not yet been presented to me. When it is, I will carefully consider it and I will then examine the need for anything further arising from it. There is a need to learn from this about the relationship between the Irish Sports Council and the governing bodies, about the interaction between them and whether other processes should be used. I am always in favour of using mediation processes where they are available, irrespective of the difficulties. Perhaps we can investigate whether national governing bodies should be using that method, given that it has been available since 2007. These are the issues I will examine when I receive the report.

See this speech in context