Cycling Ireland chief executive James Quilligan said when he took on his new role two years ago he discovered a very depleted staff working for the organisation. Indeed, the national governing body was in such a desperate financial position a loan of €450,000 was needed to keep it afloat.
“When I came in, morale was on the floor internally with staff,” Quilligan said in an interview with stickybottle, in which he covers a wide range of issues including high performance, national team selection, developing young riders and trying to address the seven-year decline in racing numbers.
“The staff had been knocked left, right and centre; rightly or wrongly. They were on their knees. A new board had been formed. Financially, it was in a state of disarray. Everything was a lot worse than I imagined, to be honest with you. And the trust was gone; the trust between the provinces and Cycling Ireland, many of the clubs, and many of the members.”
Advertisement
Worryingly, Quilligan said the loss of trust in Cycling Ireland was also an issue for agencies that fund it, including Sport Ireland and Sport NI, which became clear to him immediately on taking up his role. However, he counts himself fortunate that he was supported by a strong board, then Cycling Ireland president Tom Daly and the staff, who he said had been very motivated to work hard and progress the national governing body.
He says though the bank loan was required to steady the ship after Cycling Ireland haemorrhaged money in the wake of a series of controversies, the recovery plan he put in place is now ahead of schedule. A big sponsorship deal with a corporate backer would have been a saviour not so long ago, but not now.
Quilligan is effectively the leading figure brought into Cycling Ireland after the controversies had hammered the organisation from a reputational, credibility and financial perspective. When appointed to the role almost two years ago, it fell to him to steady the ship before starting the recovery process.
When he started he said Cycling Ireland’s funders were asking how the financial and governance problems would be “solved”. The financial state of the organisation was the most pressing aspect of the crisis.
“It was a case of just trying to get through the first 12 months. We had to take out a bank loan just to keep going,” he said.
While in survival mode for the first 12 months, he was also conscious of the need to rebuild trust in Cycling Ireland. So he set about meeting as many people as he could in Irish cycling, including the chairpersons of the provincial councils and others “just to find out what the issues were”.
He found trust in Cycling Ireland at an “all-time low” and tried to secure some “small wins”. This included meeting provincial councils - Cycling Connacht, Cycling Leinster, Cycling Munster and Cycling Ulster - and guaranteeing their funding going forward.
“The trust wasn't there at the start, but I was given a fair shot by everybody, I definitely was,” he said, adding new agreements and terms of reference were formulated governing the relationship between Cycling Ireland and the provincial bodies as well as the various commissions within the NGB’s structures.
"It isn't the fun stuff but it had to be done and I think we're in a great position to move forward," Quilligan said.
The controversies that engulfed Cycling Ireland before Quilligan’s appointment included the NGB being suspended from applying for some Government grants after “false quotations” were used in applications it made for grants from Government funds.
There was also botched dealings with the Irish UCI Continental team, EvoPro Racing, which Cycling Ireland initially planned to offer financial support to so it could act as a feeder team for young riders.
A KOSI report was commissioned by Sport Ireland in response to false quotation documents being used by Cycling Ireland in 2020 to apply for capital grants from the Department of Sport and a separate case involving Cycling Ireland trying to access money from the Sport NI Sustainability Fund.
Another report, by auditors BDO, found a “lack of adherence to good governance” by Cycling Ireland in signing a document with EvoPro Racing in December, 2021, without the board first being consulted. The signing of that document occurred just a month after a report into Cycling Ireland, on the false quotations controversy, had highlighted a litany of concerns about governance within the national governing body.
In the wake of the two controversies, there was a near total change of key personnel at Cycling Ireland. The expenditure – mostly on consultants’ reports and legal fees – almost crippled the organisation, leading to serious concerns being expressed by stakeholders who provide funding, including Sport Ireland.
Quilligan believes general improvements in governance within Cycling Ireland had helped win back trust, as had devising a clear vision for the organisation and setting it out for all to see; the first step in creating a new culture.
Related News
“I want this to be the best national governing body in the country,” he said. “Away from the GAA, the IRFU and the FAI, I want cycling Ireland to be the number one of the next level of national governing bodies
"That's where we're heading, I've got no doubts about it. We've recruited really well. We have new staff, new values, new culture.”
Quilligan said a key move towards reforming Cycling Ireland was to draw up a set of values for the organisation, which he pointed out had never been done before.
Published last December, Cycling Ireland’s ‘Strategic Plan’ for the next five years sets out its “core values and strategic goals”. Cycling Ireland described it at the time as “providing a blueprint for the growth and development of the sport across all disciplines on the island of Ireland”.
Since then the ‘High Performance Strategy 2025-2028’ has been published as has the ‘High Performance Pathway Strategy 2025–2028’; the latter focused on bringing new talent through the pipeline towards the high performance at senior level.
The publication of these documents will, inevitably, be dismissed in some quarters as falling well short of substantive reform; at least not change in themselves. However, Quilligan is adamant that a vision, values and plans must be devised and published, for all to see, before being realised by resources, including staffing.
He said getting people on bikes – whether on the road, BMX, track or off-road disciplines – was Cycling Ireland’s the primary goal, though there would be a high performance dividend if cycling became a bigger culture in Ireland.
In a nutshell – as has been the case for many other European countries - the more people introduced to cycling in Ireland, the greater the chance of discovering racing talent among them; maybe even an Olympic medallist.
“By adding quality systems, coaching and education, high performance pathways, clubs getting stronger… that would be success for me,” Quilligan said, adding strong governance and finances were required.
He had put in place a three-year financial recovery plan – required after the massive expenditure during the recent controversies. That plan was in its second year and “we're probably a little bit ahead of schedule on that”.
Cycling Ireland has almost 35 staff now and though Athletics Ireland and Swim Ireland “have a few more, we’re there or thereabouts”. But he had been “shocked” to realise on taking up his position that Cycling Ireland had no development officers.
“Cycling Ireland was the only NGB at that level with no Connacht officers, Leinster officers... crazy. These are things you’d think would automatically be there when you come in. So I'd to go and fight for funding that we needed to put them in place.
“We absolutely need one or two more key staff, from a commercial point of view we'd be lagging behind. But we don't need 50 staff either.”
He points out the high performance structure had two staff when he became chief executive of Cycling “and now it’s a team of 10 people”. However, personnel were still required for off-road and BMX “and I’m talking to Sport Ireland about that”.
There were also six participation officers now on the books as well as three staff in the area of coaching and education. Marketing and communications staff had also been recruited.
“I've had to strengthen each area, and as you do that, it’s about trying to find the money,” he said, adding when the bank loan was paid off, that would further strengthen Cycling Ireland’s position.
“We're at (staffing) capacity in terms of the funding we have at the moment,”Quilligan said. “Having said that we've increased our core funding by 15 per cent in the last two years. Our high performance funding is nearly 40 per cent higher.
“So the trust is back. Stakeholders do believe in us now; that if they invest in cycling the money will be well spent.”
- Quilligan also discussed high performance and domestic racing, which will be covered in the second instalment of his interview with stickybottle.
