I want to raise serious questions about the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, and IWA-Sport's decision to send an Irish wheelchair basketball team to the European championships division B in Switzerland where Ireland is due to play Israel. This team did not qualify for this tournament. Ireland was invited. It could have easily refused. I cannot imagine what the officials were thinking when they accepted this particular invite. The IWA said its board unanimously approved participation following a robust process. However, basic questions remain unanswered. When was Ireland invited? When did the IWA know Israel was participating? What alternatives were considered, including declining the invitation? What external advice was sought? The IWA has responded by citing the confidentiality of board discussions, but this is a major national charity receiving significant public funding. Board confidentiality cannot be used as a blanket response to legitimate questions about how significant decisions were made.

There are also serious questions about fundraising for this invite. The public was asked to financially support Ireland's participation yet the original fundraising page merely stated that Ireland would compete against three other nations. It did not name Israel as one of those three nations. Only after I challenged this omission was the page amended. That raises serious and legitimate questions about whether there was an element of deception in how funds were sought. If the IWA rejects that suggestion, it should explain why Israel was initially omitted.

There is an important equality issue here as well. This issue should not receive less scrutiny because it is a wheelchair basketball team rather than a football team. Disability sports should not be patronised or held to a different standard. The Stop the Game campaign is challenging Ireland's football fixtures against Israel. This deserves the same seriousness and scrutiny we would expect if it involved the FAI and a senior football team. Meanwhile, more than 900 wheelchairs donated for injured and disabled children in Gaza are sitting in Jordan, unable to reach them amid Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries.

The IWA provides essential services, partly because of gaps in State provision. That does not absolve the Government from questioning and challenging the IWA. I am asking the Minister with responsibility for sport to seek answers from the IWA and IWA-Sport. Public funding must come with public accountability. If this process was genuinely robust, the IWA would be able to explain what that process was.

I thank the Senator. That might be an issue for a Commencement matter.