I welcome members to the first meeting of the new session. The main business today will be the resumption of the hearings on volunteering. First, there are a number of items to be dealt with. Are the minutes, as circulated, agreed? Agreed. As this is Barbara Hughes's last meeting with the joint committee, I thank her for all the work she has done. She has been between a rock and a hard place and has been very important to the work of the committee. She has been at the end of the telephone, the Internet and so on. We take her for granted much of the time. As she is moving to the questions office, we will probably interact with her on a different level. I wish her well in this new avenue.
Although I am moving away slightly from the agenda, there has been widespread public debate on the performance or lack of performance of the Irish team, with the obvious exception of Cian O'Connor, at the recent Olympic Games. We had frequently been assured this was the best funded, best trained and best prepared team but the results did not bear out that, with the exception of Cian O'Connor, with frequent failure to achieve personal bests. I had asked the Clerk to request the Irish Sports Council and the Olympic Council of Ireland to come before the committee. We understand a formal review of Athens will be carried out. Given that this committee has responsibility for sporting activity I feel it should carry out its own investigation, simultaneously or otherwise, with the existing formal review being carried out by the groups concerned. It would be important to invite not only the main bodies but also to engage with the athletes. If I had the broad agreement of the committee for this course of action we could continue with that line. Do members agree? Agreed.