On Monday, the Irish Government said Amanda Bennett, a former Welsh rugby international and sports governance consultant, has been chosen to head an independent review of the organisational culture of Rowing Ireland’s high-performance programme. She will be assisted in the review by Kathryn Ball, a high-performance consultant and former British rower who competed at the 1984 Olympic Games.

Work on the review is due to get under way in the coming weeks and should be finished by the end of 2026. It will look at the culture inside the high-performance unit and at how Rowing Ireland and Sport Ireland interact, and it will issue recommendations.

Bennett has also worked on governance with the Football Association in England, the Irish Rugby Football Union and smaller voluntary sporting bodies. Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan said Bennett’s experience as an athlete and governance specialist made her “ideally positioned” for the role.

“I want to acknowledge the experiences shared by some athletes in the Rowing Ireland High-Performance Programme and commend their courage in coming forward,” O’Donovan said.

Rowing Ireland said it would “engage constructively” with the process.

Photo Amanda Bennett is a governance and diversity specialist working in the sport and charity sectors.

Credit Welsh Rugby Union

January Hearings

The appointment comes after the Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport hearing on 28 January in Leinster House, where welfare and safeguarding in rowing’s elite system were examined. Former rowers Monika Dukarska and Sanita Puspure gave evidence to a private session of the Oireachtas sporting committee. Psychologist Dr Paul Gaffney told the committee that in 2024 he was seeing 12 current and former athletes from the programme.

The hearing was triggered by a series of Sunday Independent investigations by Paul Kimmage into alleged problems inside the high-performance unit before the Tokyo and Paris Olympic Games. After the session, the Government said an independent review “could be helpful”.

Rowing Ireland chair Barry McWilliams told the committee it was “unacceptable” for any athlete to have negative experiences in the programme.

Sport Ireland’s Prior Awareness

Sport Ireland chief executive Dr Una May told the January hearing that the organisation had responded “immediately, appropriately and promptly” to welfare concerns raised with it, using interventions including mentoring, mediation and additional resources. She disclosed that a clinical psychologist contracted by Sport Ireland had formally notified the organisation of potential welfare issues in March 2021.

May said Sport Ireland had expected Rowing Ireland to conduct an independent culture review after the Tokyo Olympics. No such review took place. Sport Ireland used future funding as a “specific lever” in its efforts to push the issue forward, according to her testimony.

Bennett will meet with current and former high-performance rowers to hear their experiences. The Government said the resulting recommendations could be built into Ireland’s sports governance framework, including the next 10-year National Sports Policy.

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