The appointment of independent directors to the board of the organisation mentioned by the Deputy is a matter for the organisation itself.
A Nominations Committee was formed by the organisation to appoint independent directors to its board in line with one of the key recommendations of the Governance Review Group report. Sport Ireland was invited by the organisation to nominate two independent persons to this committee and a recruitment company was appointed by the organisation to assist with the selection of independent directors.
Neither the Minister for Media, Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and the Gaeltacht Catherine Martin TD, the Minister of State with responsibility for Sport and the Gaeltacht Jack Chambers TD nor their officials had any role in the appointment of the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform by the organisation as one of its independent directors.
The Deputy will be aware that the annual budget allocated for the sport subhead, along with budgets
for all other subheads within my Department’s Vote requires the approval of the Dáil as part of the annual Estimates process.