Cycling Ireland chief executive Matt McKerrow came under pressure from delegates at yesterday's annual general meeting in Co Monaghan, with one saying he "couldn't understand" how McKerrow was still in his post after so many other people had stepped aside following recent controversies. McKerrow was chief executive in 2020 when false quotation documents were used to apply for Department of Sport grants. He was also involved in drawing up a provisional agreement that would have seen Cycling Ireland enter into a financial and strategic partnership with Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing.
The fall-out from those controversies has to date cost Cycling Ireland more than €700,000, with more to come, while the board of the national governing body has been reconfigured since the start of this year. A number of delegates at the Cycling Ireland AGM yesterday, representing clubs from across the country, questioned McKerrow's leadership, as detailed below, and expressed their frustration and dissatisfaction at recent events.
Advertisement
McKerrow told the meeting while there were "a number of issues in the last 18 months" about which Cycling Ireland members or funders wanted more information, it was not always possible to provide those answers due to a number of factors. These included any incident with "an employment issue", GDPR factors or ongoing "due process".
"In one way, I apologise for that in that we'd like to have been a lot more open about what we've been able to be. But unfortunately, we deal in that legal framework," he told delegates at the meeting.
McKerrow added "significant progress" had been made in the governance area this year including 17 recommendations implemented from the KOSI audit - into Cycling Ireland's use of false quotations - as well as the implementation of 26 recommendations from the Institute of Public Administration.
He added all of those recommendations were implemented by September 30th and the funding being withheld by Sport Ireland, pending that work being done, had since been released to Cycling Ireland. While that work had taken time, effort "and money", it was necessary to satisfy its funders and as part of improving governance, McKerrow explained.
"I'm pleased to report that our relationships with our external stakeholders are now in quite a good place," he said, adding Cycling Ireland was now "on sound financial footing".
It emerged - after a line of questioning by Robbie Silcock of Island Wheelers CC - that while Cycling Ireland made a profit of €350,000 last year, that would have been a loss of €50,000 but for €400,000 held by provisional committees being transferred into Cycling Ireland coffers.
McKerrow said while participation levels at cycling events this year had not returned to pre-pandemic levels - including the Cycling Ireland-run Great Dublin Bike Ride - other sports had witnessed the same trend. He pointed out, for example, that numbers at the recent Dublin City Marathon were down by 10,000. Cycling Ireland staff turnover had also been an issue of late, but in a "red hot labour market" other national governing bodies were experiencing the same challenges.
Cycling Ireland, McKerrow added, also was not the only sporting body with governance issues, citing the Irish Amateur Boxing Association. He added other national governing bodies in Ireland around the same size as Cycling Ireland had around 40 staff compared to Cycling Ireland's 25. This was something the organisation hoped to change so it could be more responsive to members.
Niall Doggett of Navan Road Club in Co Meath put it to McKerrow that he could not "detach" himself from the "problems of the last year or two". He asked if McKerrow was "confident" he was "fit and able to deliver the improvements that" were need. He questioned how McKerrow "could be part of the problem and then still promise us you're going to be good enough to deliver the changes going forward".
Doggett concluded his question to McKerrow, saying: "It's really a question to you; it's not about policies or commissions or anything else. How can you do a better job than you've done before, because I would not have confidence in that".
McKerrow replied by saying he had been asked that question of himself "quite a lot". "Yes, I like everybody else, would put my hand up and - in the spirit of collective responsibility - say there are mistakes that have been made. There are things that, if I had my time again, I would do differently."
He acknowledged he was "part of the issues that have happened". Given the number of reports into, and questions asked of, Cycling Ireland he hoped "the fact I'm still standing here, you might read between the lines that it's not solely down to me". He said cycling in Ireland "had a massive amount of potential to be realised" and he wanted to continue to "fix" the recently highlighted problems.
"I owe it to the sport to pull us out of that and to get us where we need to go," he said. "The day I get up and I say, 'you know what, I'm doing more harm than good here' is the day I'll walk away; whether there's confidence in me or confidence not in me."
Pat O'Shaughnessy of Cuchulainn Cycling Club in Co Louth said the main key performance indicator Cycling Ireland had of McKerrow's time was that the organisation had spent €750,000 from the fall-out of the recent controversies.
He noted McKerrow had talked about funding, and not being able to meet all of the demands from the cycling community and for high performance. But that was going to be "much more difficult next year because we're now €750,000 down… on your watch," O'Shaughnessy added.
He also told McKerrow that board members in place during the recent controversies had stepped aside "but you held your position and I don't understand how that is".
Related News
"The board are volunteers, you're the paid CEO," O'Shaughnessy added. "I just feel personally your position is untenable. That's a huge amount of money in the overall budget of this organisation. And I don't understand, like some of the other members who have asked questions here today… you talk about KPIs (key performance indicators), key messages… that's our key message; €750,000 we're down."
McKerrow said the expenditure was vital to "position the organisation where it needs to be going forward", adding he was not solely responsible for signing off on large chunks of that spending.
"I'm not in a situation where I personally, or any chief executive, signs off on a big item like that without a board of directors. I'm not absolving the responsibility for the fact that (the spending) needed to happen. But the decisions, particularly around the larger expenditures that were necessary in the governance space, were made by board resolution. So, in that way, there are not in a 'CEO signed off on this' scenario.
"None of us wanted to spend €7, let alone the figure that you're quoting there, on those investigations and on those consultancy and legal fees. But it has been a necessary evil to get us where we need to be, to get the funding back and put the organisation on the footing it needs to be on going forward."
He added there was a "collective responsibility to all this and, yes, I'm in the middle of that and I have a lot of responsibility to it". However, there was a "collective responsibility around the board and the people who have left the board". He said Cycling Ireland would have preferred to spend the money on "coaches, development, events".
O'Shaughnessy replied by telling McKerrow he had not answered his question. He reiterated that the board had stood aside and McKerrow had not. Yet "it happened on your watch" and a chief executive had to "take responsibility".
Later in the meeting, during other questions, O'Shaughnessy said it was clear to hear the "frustration" among the Cycling Ireland club members present as they asked questions and felt they were not getting answers and were being met of "obfuscation".
Peter Brown from Phoenix Cycling Club in Belfast said he had heard many parents in Ulster saying "there was no development for youth" riders other than the parents' role. He said the number of youth riders was not being sustained coming through the ranks and he was fearful Cycling Ireland was effectively losing those members who should be the future of the sport and the organisation.
McKerrow said he agreed that more development officers were required on the ground around the country. He added while 25,000 children had learned to cycle through the CycleRight programme, which was very positive, "the challenge is 'where do they go then'". He said Cycling Ireland needed to work and develop a pathway system for those children who came through its CycleRight programme so they would continue in the sport on "a cycling journey".
Mark Kendall, who is secretary of Banbridge Cycling Club in Co Down, said his questions were around "accountability and responsibility". He asked McKerrow what key deliverables he would be judged by over the next year. McKerrow responded saying he was happy to have his KPIs published on the Cycling Ireland website and to account for those in 12 months at the AGM.
Valerie Considine of Usher Irish Road Club in Dublin, and Rás na mBan director, said she was pleased to see a full board at the AGM and also believed they were doing "a good job". However, a mechanism for race promoters to apply for funding for their events, which would put them on a "firm footing", had been discussed and promised for some time but was not delivered.
She wanted to know what was happening with that plan and whether there was criteria that races would have to meet to secure that funding. Furthermore, Considine asked when the race organisers would know if they were successful in securing funds and when they would receive them.
"We need to know what the criteria is now so we can fulfill the criteria so we can get the maximum amount of funds that we need for our races," she said.
Considine added she had been asking for years for Cycling Ireland to confirm much earlier in the year whether it planned to enter an Irish team into Rás na mBan. Selection on that team, and whether a national line-up was even being entered, had significant knock-on impacts on regional, and other, teams as they made their plans for the race.
McKerrow said Rás na mBan was "an important event and is seen as an important event". But entering an Irish team into it, and the selection that might be made, had to fit into Cycling Ireland's high performance plan.
He added the final draft of plans for the event funding process was "sitting in the inbox in my email" - including the application process and criteria. He agreed with Considine that it was "completely overdue". McKerrow said the process had been delayed by Covid but in a matter of weeks race organisers would get the chance to make their case for funding.
There would be parity, meaning equal opportunity for leisure and competitive events. And within the racing sector, there would be parity for road, track and off-road. Cycling Ireland expected the fund to attract a large number of applications and to be over-subscribed, meaning "difficult decisions" would need to be made.
Another delegate, from Navan Road Club, asked board member Louise Reilly what the board's view was of chief executive McKerrow and how much confidence they had in him. She replied by saying a performance review, addressing all staff, was being formulated including the chief executive. She added it would be "neither fair nor appropriate to single out an individual here today".
