Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and the work he is doing. I agree with him in that I too hope the FAI takes the appropriate steps before its AGM in respect of making sure it reaches the gender quotas for the board. I also welcome the audit that Sport Ireland undertook to make sure it had the checks and balances in place to uncover these payments and I welcome that the Minister of State has commissioned a report. When does he expect the report on these payments that he sought from Sport Ireland to be on his desk?

As the Minister of State set out, more than €62 million in Government support has been provided to the FAI over the past three or four years. Five months ago, however, the FAI put another document on the Minister of State's desk in which it sought €500 million in capital structural support for grants around the country. FAI representatives were due before the Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media next Wednesday to discuss those plans but, surprisingly, they decided they are not and cannot attend. Perhaps we would have been discussing something else. Given the amount of money being sought by this sports organisation, which does such immense good work for many people throughout the country, it will be important that when it seeks half a billion euro in Government support, the checks and balances we sought following the previous controversy four years ago have been put to bed and we have confidence that taxpayers' money going into this sport is properly used.