Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 June 2015
11. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on his Department's monitoring of all sporting bodies in receipt of public moneys to ensure proper financial auditing and financial governance standards. [23470/15]
View answerThe Irish Sports Council, which is funded by my Department, is the statutory body with responsibility for the promotion, development and co-ordination of sport. This includes responsibility for the allocation of funding for National Governing Bodies of Sport. The Sports Council monitors those bodies in order to ensure proper financial auditing and governance standards and my Department has no role in that process.
The Council sets terms and conditions in relation to the funding provided, including financial reporting requirements. From the information they have given me, I am confident that they have good procedures in place for the audit of use of public moneys allocated to sporting organisations. I will refer the Deputy's question to the Council to provide more detail directly to him.
In relation to my Department's Sports Capital Programme, organisations in receipt of grants must comply with the terms and conditions of the Programme. These include the submission of three quotations, paid invoices, proof of payment of invoices in the form of bank statements and tax clearance certificates for the grantees and the suppliers. All grantees must also provide a guarantee that grant aided facilities and equipment will stay in sporting use for a minimum period of time. Any organisation that does not comply with the terms and conditions may have their grant withdrawn, may be required to repay a grant or be barred from making applications for a period. The Department also inspects a random sample of payments to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the Programme.
