National Governing Bodies
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
============================================================

Robert O'Donoghue (LAB), Dublin Fingal West

It is good to hear about empowering NGBs and I accept that care and consideration are needed on this matter. Volunteer organisations play a vital role in our communities, but with that role comes responsibility to uphold good governance, transparency and accountability. I urge the Minister of State to bring forward those measures that he just mentioned and further measures, where they are needed, to ensure that members have access to an independent avenue of appeal when local governance processes fail.
I have since received a number of further disclosures from clubs and volunteer organisations concerning the conduct of committee members and the treatment of fee-paying members. Regrettably, a recurring response seems to be that those who disagree with the organisation's policies are encouraged to leave, when these policies could be causing significant distress to members of these organisations. It is deeply concerning that this situation arises. It poses serious questions about accountability and governance within these organisations. Who ensures that complaints are treated fairly, transparently and in accordance with the basic principles of natural justice?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11