Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I am concerned that there will not be an independent report on this. There are three different groups involved in the issue which prompted this debate. In the order of €800,000 of what is effectively public money has gone down the Swanee and this should not have been allowed. I welcome the Minister's suggestion that she is in favour of mediation but surely there must be more. There must be some process whereby a condition of funding is that mediation will take place. That did not happen in this case.

There is another major issue which I raised at the committee. A person who came before the committee went to the High Court and was quoted as saying that he tried to avoid answering questions, doing much prevarication and spoofing. It is absolutely appalling that a witness before an Oireachtas committee would go to the High Court and describe such occurrences at the committee. If this is the case with a sporting organisation which gives evidence before a committee, it is not good enough and we should sort out the issue.

Has the Minister any plans to review the remit of the Irish Sports Council and is there a need for new legislation? The council is defining itself and there are many issues that have not been addressed in the way funding was drip-fed to particular organisations. There seems to be a level of dysfunction in what is happening with various sporting organisations and the Irish Sports Council. As a matter of urgency, these should be addressed.

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