Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. He moved to reassure people that the funding which was received from Sport Ireland - from the State, in effect - had nothing to do with the employment and appointment decisions which the FAI made in respect of Mr. Delaney recently. That was both very unhelpful and very helpful. It was helpful in the sense that it revealed a certain mindset which considers that there is no need for the Oireachtas to worry about how an organisation is being governed as long as the money it provides to that organisation is being spent properly. That mindset ignores the obvious reality that money is fungible. If the Cathaoirleach gives me €50,000 to do a particular job, I can spend that €50,000 doing the job for him, but it also frees up other resources that I have from other sources to do whatever job I want. If the State is giving money directly or indirectly to an organisation, there has to be much more accountability than we saw at the committee yesterday. Having said that, people are within their rights to complain if politicians are grandstanding in the media one minute and asking questions at committees as representatives of the public the next minute. While the committee has to do its job of asking questions on behalf of the public, as Deputy Coppinger and others said, it is obvious that this situation calls for a very specific inquiry to be established by legislation. Somebody trustworthy should be able to ask any questions that need to be asked, get whatever answers he or she considers appropriate and put a report before these Houses.