Cycling Ireland spent very large sums of money on lawyers and consultants last year as the cost of the recent controversies within the organisation is beginning to emerge. Furthermore, a governance report, not known about before now, was commissioned by the national governing body last year at a cost of €80,000. The most noted increase in spending was on “professional fees”, which increased to €706,129 in 2021, up from just €58,047 in 2020 - an increase of €648,000.
Much of that increase in professional fees is down to soaring consultancy fees and legal fees, with the money paid to consultants alone increasing by more than €300,000 in 2021. The new figures only capture part of Cycling Ireland’s spending on legal and consultancy fees - with more to come - in the wake of the body’s suspension from applying for Department of Sport capital grants and the from the fall-out of the collapsed EvoPro Racing deal.
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However, in some good news for Cycling Ireland, the national governing body has experienced at increase in members. According to figures supplied to stickybottle by the federation, it now has 26,948 members. This compares to 24,948 this time last year and 23,281 two years ago.
While the current increase is still some way off the record 29,000 in 2017, the positive trends over the last couple of years show the cycling boom in Ireland during the pandemic has, to an extent, been capitalised on by the national governing body.
The new figures for spending are contained in the Cycling Ireland accounts for 2021. Those accounts are within its annual report for 2022, published ahead of the body's AGM tomorrow. Because the accounts are for 2021 it means they do not capture the expenditure this year on legal fees, reports and consultants fees after the two controversies.
The cost of the new cycling supplement in the Irish Independent and also the cycling show on TG4 will also be in next year's accounts after Cycling Ireland confirmed it was funding both projects. It's marketing budget in 2021 - before the cost of those projects is added to that spend for 2022 - was €344,583 after increasing year on year recently.
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In summary, the 2021 accounts reveal:
- Consultancy fees were up to €327,420 last year, from €12,299 in 2020.
- Legal fees were €227,812 last year, up from €6,121 in 2020.
- Overall, professional fees increased to €706,129 in 2021 from €58,047 in 2020. This increase includes the increase in legal and consultancy fees.
- The marketing budget increased to €344,583 last year, from a level of well below €100,000 in the recent past. However, Cycling Ireland said the 2021 figure was increased by a benefit in kind package of €125,000. This means €125,000 was the value of products and services received by Cycling Ireland from sponsors, rather than receiving money from those sponsors.
- A governance report commissioned in 2021 cost €80,000. In reply to queries from stickybottle, Cycling Ireland said it was "an internal review of Cycling Ireland’s overall governance framework and governing documents/constitution" as well as "addressing the historical governance concerns, it will also be a guiding document and reference for future constitutional review works scheduled for 2023".
Neither Cycling Ireland's use of false quotations and its suspension by the Department of Sport from applying for grants nor the collapsed EvoPro deal are mentioned in the 2022 annual report. Controversially, the grants debacle was not disclosed last year in the annual report or at last year's AGM. This was despite the fact that controversy had been ongoing for well over a year and the 12-month suspension from applying for grants had been served in full.
Cycling Ireland Chief executive Matt McKerrow, in his remarks in the annual report, mentions the “upheaval experienced in 2021 and early 2022” but does not explain what he is referring to. Elsewhere, some of the new governance structures established to deal with the recent controversies and to reform Cycling Ireland are also mentioned – as are consultants BDO who reviewed the EvoPro Racing debacle. But no reference is made to why they new structures were established or why BDO had been hired.
In reply to queries from stickybottle, Cycling Ireland said a "detailed 50-paged independent report" by BDO, about the EvoPro Racing controversy, was released to members last month. It added Cycling Ireland representatives were "questioned" about the Department of Sport grants issue by a Oireachtas Committee in July.
"The Cycling Ireland CEO (Matt McKerrow) and members of the board have made themselves available to answer questions on both matters at a number of forums this year including the member’s consultation and review workshop, commission meetings, provincial meetings/AGMs and other forums," it said, adding the AGM this weekend was another opportunity to raise the issues.
When asked by stickybottle about the increase in consultancy and legal fees in 2021, Cycling Ireland said:
"The increase… in 2021 was largely driven by the need to address historical governance issues and requirement for Cycling Ireland to implement the recommendations of the Sport Ireland KOSI Audit, IPA recommendations and in order to fully comply with the Governance Code for Sport. To date all KOSI and IPA audit recommendations have been completed and Governance Code compliance was declared on October 17th, 2022."
