The board of Cycling
Ireland appears to have decided on a different path for the organisation to
that suggested by the national governing body’s president, Liam Collins, in his
statement to members yesterday evening.
While Collins had
suggested members of the board step down, a statement from
the board
this evening, Sunday, made no mention
of any planned resignations. Instead, it expressed the current board’s commitment
to Irish cycling
and its wish to continue working for the good of the sport.
Having held a meeting today, the board has also decided to call an EGM; something which Collins did not believe was the best course of action, though he made clear he had no specific objection to such a meeting.
The
EGM will come in the wake of the
controversy around Cycling Ireland having used false quotations to apply for Department of Sport grants
in 2020.
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That
matter was referred to the Garda for review and Cycling Ireland was suspended
from applying for grants for 12 months. Sport Ireland also commissioned a report
into Cycling Ireland after the false quotations controversy came to light.
At
present Sport Ireland is “supervising” Cycling Ireland in implementing the
recommendations of that review, carried out by governance consultants KOSI.
In its statement this
evening, the board said it was “aware of a written communication made by the president, on his own behalf,
to the membership of Cycling Ireland”.
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The
board said it shared the view of Collins that the federation’s directors should be a “unified
and cohesive” group. But it believed the best way forward was to “work together to rebuild relationships and
address the issues facing the company”. It stated its commitment to continue working towards that goal.
It
added the board planned to write to the Department of Sport and Sport Ireland “to
advise them of the issues that appear to have given rise to the president’s
communication”.
It would also
engage with Sport Ireland about appointing “additional” board members, which was one suggestion put forward by Collins.
In
its statement this evening, the board said holding an EGM would offer an opportunity to inform Cycling Ireland
members of the issue facing the federation and outline the steps being taken to address
current issues.
Collins, who was elected
president last November, said in his statement last evening that he intended to
resign from his position before the next AGM due in November of this year. He
also asked the appointed members of the board to step down and urged the
elected members to follow his example and resign before the next AGM.
In
the context of those resignations, he
believed Sport Ireland should then work with
Cycling Ireland
to appoint new board members. He added
anyone who resigned from the board, as he was suggesting, could put themselves
forward for election at the AGM in nine months.
Collins expressed concern
that relations on the board were very poor, adding for now the running of
Cycling Ireland should be left to the chief executive, Matt McKerrow, and his
team.
If this was done, he
said many of the challenges facing the company would have run their course by
the next AGM in November. And for that reason, he felt it was better for the
board to step back as changes were being implemented in the wake the
controversy over false quotations being used by Cycling Ireland to apply for
grants from the Department of Sport.
