14. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the engagement his Department has had with organisations (details supplied) or any other stakeholders following the publication of concerns regarding the welfare of athletes in the high performance programmes at one of the organisations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63389/25]

Sentiment score: 0.16

I ask the Minister the engagement his Department has had with organisations, in particular Rowing Ireland, or any other stakeholders, following the publication of concerns regarding the welfare of athletes in the high performance programmes. In fairness, we have all seen it - anybody who has read Paul Kimmage or heard any of the podcasts he has dealt with. It is frightening. We have seen the huge success there has been in rowing and we would like to make sure these particular issues are addressed.

Sentiment score: 0.21

I am not going to get into the specifics of this. We have all seen it. We know those who have been named. We were even very shocked in relation to the people who, luckily enough, brought this to the attention of the world. What the Minister of State said sounds fine. It is just about ensuring not only that Rowing Ireland has sufficient protocols to ensure we are looking after the welfare of all those involved, including staff, but particularly those who are going out there and doing their absolute for this country. We have had huge success in relation to that but in terms of anything that relates to the issues I have read about, I am not going to go into it because I accept there is nobody here to defend themselves in relation to it. I accept what the Minister of State is talking about in relation to staff being dealt with but can we ensure that we have the protocols across the board, that we have the checks and balances, and that Sport Ireland is also playing its part to ensure that we do not have lapses or situations like this? We will never have a perfect system but we need to make sure that we look after those who are doing their utmost in the sporting field and in other fields.

Sentiment score: 0.29

I appreciate what the Minister of State said. As I said, I was shocked when I saw it, in particular in relation to the sport where we have had a huge level of success. I suppose the question is: how do we ensure this code of conduct is to a degree enforced or policed and that each of the national governing bodies has sufficient level of protocols, checks and balances to ensure we look after the welfare of all those involved from the staff and athletes throughout?

Sentiment score: 0.54