Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I wish to clarify something. The settlement in the case amounted to €309,283, of which the Irish Sports Council's contribution was €150,000. Its legal costs amounted to €225,000. I wish to clarify this in case I gave the wrong impression.

We know what occurred because we have both sides of the story. We have the sports council's account in the form of a letter and we have the court proceedings, which constitute the plaintiff's account. Mediation, governance and recruitment into important posts are three of the issues that must be addressed.

Deputy O'Mahony raised two important issues about boxing, which is not only important in terms of sport, but also in the context of our Olympic hopefuls, given the fact that 12 of our 23 Olympic medals have come from boxing. Basketball is also important. The sports council, which gets almost €50 million per year, will give €864,048 to basketball this year. I do not know why the association claims it cannot keep its staff, as this is a significant amount of money. The council supports associations and governing bodies in drawing up job descriptions and participating in recruitment panels, etc. It is important that all recruitment should be open and transparent.

See this speech in context