87 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if he will give details of all the sporting organisations he has met in the past six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3446/99]

During the past six months I had informal contacts with national governing bodies of sport in the course of attendance, in my official capacity, at a wide range of sporting events. On 28 November 1998, I hosted a one day conference to which all 75 national governing bodies in receipt of funding were invited to update them on policy developments. The conference followed a full round of bilateral meetings with the executive chairman of the Irish Sports Council on strategic planning within the individual governing bodies.