The wider repercussions of governance issues at the Olympic Council of Ireland could mean new tighter legislation around the wider network of National Governing Bodies for sport.
Minister of State for Sport Patrick O’Donovan has said that “the cost of receiving public money is 100 per cent probity and 100 per cent compliance.”
Nobody could argue with that sentiment though the suggestion in certain media that this would mean new legislation particularly aimed at sporting bodies is perhaps a stretch too far.
Headlines
Sport creates headlines and the performance of athletes and the boards that govern their sport are generally seen in a brighter spotlight than many other organisations.
There is no question that they should be subject to the same level of scrutiny and oversight as all other bodies in receipt of public money.
We are not sure though that creating special legislation for sporting bodies is the way to go.
Sport receives substantially less state money than would go into charity, education, health or even the arts and the same level of responsibility to act in accordance with high standards of behaviour should apply to all.
Spotlight
It is because of the spotlight on sport that it is sometimes seen as in need of special treatment. In recent years calls for restrictions on alcohol sponsorship were directed exclusively at sport.
This would have meant that the College Football Classic, the start of the Guinness Pro12 season and the All Ireland Hurling Championship would all have had to forego any association with alcohol while the Electric Picnic for example would have been treated much more leniently despite its more youth oriented appeal.
Governance in sport is no less important than it is in any other area, but neither is it more so.
Management
Whatever emerges from the internal and independent Government inquiries into the management of affairs at the Olympic Council of Ireland should be read carefully and acted upon where work is needed by every sports organisation.
If loopholes in legislation are revealed they need to be fixed so that confidence can be restored but they need to be so across the entire spectrum of Irish society and not just sport.
Effort expended on producing legislation that would only fit one small section of public spending would be better directed to an overall review of governance of which sport would be a part.
