Taoiseach’s Mayo village cycling club hits jackpot with Lottery grant

OleRodrigo

Weepsie wrote: »

They charge €30 for 6 spin classes over 6 weeks, or €60 for 12. Again this seemingly goes to the President's son Ray Moylette.

If they use these turbos for what I consider a commercial enterprise, then again the grant should be pulled

Those fees aren't high and could be covering operational costs. A commercial enterprise is where a profit is made and that would a different thing altogether.

I'm not seeing where the issue is here, just more noise over nothing. Actually, the real issue is why more rural towns don't get 20000 euro for exercise and health initiatives.

RobFowl

Doc07 wrote: »

I'm not disputing that this grant stinks of the usual Irish corruption. However is the high cost due to purchase of high end spin/watt bikes rather than turbo trainers. Not that it makes it right but just to explain how you could actually spend the 20k eg 15-20 spin bikes

The fact that a cycling club could have bought 30 turbo trainers for 3000 quid instead of static trainers for 20k doesn't make it any better !!!

Doc07

RobFowl wrote: »

The fact that a cycling club could have bought 30 turbo trainers for 3000 quid instead of static trainers for 20k doesn't make it any better !!!

I'm not defending the club or Kenny or Harris. You'll see I have 'thanked' spyderski since this began.
I was just pointing out that they may actually have spent the money on equipment that actually cost close to 20k rather than couple grand on turbo and do God knows what with the rest.

AndrewJRenko

spyderski wrote: »

This is getting worse. Absolutely outrageous - any ideas on how to take this further. has been reported to the C&AG already. Is that the only route to take?

I'm not sure the C&AG would give this too much attention, given the scale. They usually focus on multi-million budget projects or programmes. But no harm in making a report.

You could try making a complaint to the Internal Audit head in the relevant Dept - at least they have to respond to you in some way. Or see which Oireachtas committee covers this Dept, and see if you can find an opposition TD who will raise the matter there.

Jimmy Garlic

People should fund their own fuqen hobbies.

Doc07

Maybe I should just leave it as there are more important things in life and more 'wrongs' done on a larger scale everyday in Ireland. Maybe I'm becoming a sad, bitter interweb warrior.

But then I was sad enough to read the names of every association awarded lottery funds via Dept of Health in 2016.
Islandeady are the only Sports club, never mind Cycling club, on the list.

Maybe no other sports clubs knew they might be eligible for such a grant?
And perhaps an Taoiseach is so on top of all the important things that he can write twice to the Minister for Health on behalf of this cycling club for this grant.

Chuchote

Every cycling club in Ireland should apply for the grant next year (using the Islandeady application as a template, as they obviously knew how to make their case). It would be bloody great if health funds actually went to cycling clubs - assuming that those clubs would 'outreach' to others, bringing schoolkids on country cycles, teaching courses in bike mechanics, perhaps hiring or buying rickshaws to take disabled and very old people on cycles like the guy who did this TED talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Ti4qUa-OU

RayCun

There are sports capital grants available to sports clubs, cycling clubs should apply for them.

spyderski

I received my FOI documents this morning. I will review them in full later, but the application was sent in from the Taoiseach's own email address, direct to the minister. That in itself is unusual, we'll see what else is.

spyderski

I assume that Peter Fleming who sent the article to Broadsheet is on here. If so, could he please PM me in confidence?

spyderski

Chuchote wrote: »

Every cycling club in Ireland should apply for the grant next year (using the Islandeady application as a template, as they obviously knew how to make their case). It would be bloody great if health funds actually went to cycling clubs - assuming that those clubs would 'outreach' to others, bringing schoolkids on country cycles, teaching courses in bike mechanics, perhaps hiring or buying rickshaws to take disabled and very old people on cycles like the guy who did this TED talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Ti4qUa-OU

In those circumstances, I would have no problem, obviously I fully support the appropriate grant aiding of Cycling clubs.

But this is now about something different, in fact it is becoming almost incidental that they are a cycling club, the whole issue has moved on to one of political favours being brought to bear to allocate government funds inappropriately.

Doc07

RayCun wrote: »

There are sports capital grants available to sports clubs, cycling clubs should apply for them.

Agree.

More power to the Mayo club for getting organised with good equipment.
Spending 20k on gear is not an issue if it's well maintained as it could last 10 years and mean thousands of hours of people keeping fit and getting into cycling and a better lifestyle.

The problem is they got funds from a lottery pot set up for a different reason. The Islandeady 20k grant is the only one awarded to a sport club in the entire fund. They sit amongst rape crisis centres and care for the elderly projects. To anyone that says that their application fits with the ethos of what this fund is for, I would say that's not simply naive but actually disengenous/dishonest.

Heads to not need to role for this. There does not need to be an expensive, time wasting independent inquiry.
The civil servants already paid to look after these matters should just ensure better future governance and some decent cop on.

I would love if Enda and Simon apologised and stated that perhaps the cycling club should have applied elsewhere and that this award might have been inappropriate.

Do I expect them to: no

Would I trust journalists and opposition politicians to respect the apology and not abuse it: absolutely not.

spyderski

OK, so the following is what the funding was requested for:

1 30 Spinning Bikes
2 30 Spinning mats
3 Instructional and safety notices/information
4 Qualified training and safety instruction
5 Health and nutritional advice and training for all members

spyderski

This is accompanied by a Quotation from a NI based company for the supply of the bikes and mats at a cost of €25,875.

spyderski

For some reason they also included an invoice for club gear that had already been ordered and paid for.

spyderski

From their FaceBook page:

"Reminder our 2017 Spinning Classes start TONIGHT Tuesday at 7.30pm with instructor Ray Moylette. Places are limited SO FIRST COME/PAY First served. Please come early to register and Pay - €60 for 12 classes over 6 weeks.
€30 for 6 classes over 6 weeks
Beginners & Non-Members welcome contact Keith or Ray to book your place now!
Please bring - water bottles - turbo frame and front riser - hand towel - bike and plenty of energy"

So the classes are being run by a private individual for profit, and the money has not so far been spent on any equipment....

Beasty

Just looking through their FB page. Although they mention loads of spinning classes and post plenty of pictures, I can't see a single spinning bike in any of those pictures. Can't see any mats either.

All I can see are road bikes on turbos

magicbastarder

i wonder are there any posters here who are in that club but are keeping their heads down?

spyderski

There are no spinning bikes. In fairness the money was only transferred to their account on 29/30th November.

<SNIP>

magicbastarder

Beasty wrote: »

All I can see are road bikes on turbos

are they advertising spinning classes, but on turbos?
there's no reason to suspect the money will not be spent on what it was claimed for.

spyderski

Yes, as per my post, they are advertising spinning classes, members are asked to bring their own turbos and bikes. There are pictures of same on their FB page.

The classes are run by the son of the man who owns the building they use as a clubhouse. He will be charging approx €1,500 for 2 classes per week over six weeks (based on their own estimated need for 25 bikes).

ted1

spyderski wrote: »

Yes, as per my post, they are advertising spinning classes, members are asked to bring their own turbos and bikes. There are pictures of same on their FB page.

The classes are run by the son of the man who owns the building they use as a clubhouse. He will be charging approx €9,000 for 2 classes per week over six weeks (based on their own estimated need for 25 bikes).

9,000?
25 bikes at 60 a bike =1500

RobFowl

ted1 wrote: »

9,000?
25 bikes at 60 a bike =1500

With Maths like that Spyderski is probably working for an Irish bank

spyderski

ted1 wrote: »

9,000?
25 bikes at 60 a bike =1500

Sorry, you're completely right, must have been adding it up at €60 per week. My bad.

AndrewJRenko

spyderski wrote: »

This is accompanied by a Quotation from a NI based company for the supply of the bikes and mats at a cost of €25,875.

If you want to investigate further, you might want to try validating this quote by speaking to others in the industry and see if it makes sense. Over-priced goods is a fairly common avenue of fraud, though I'm not making any particular allegations about this particular case.

AndrewJRenko

spyderski wrote: »

The classes are run by the son of the man who owns the building they use as a clubhouse. He will be charging approx €9,000 for 2 classes per week over six weeks (based on their own estimated need for 25 bikes).

Others have pointed out the calculation error. It is also not clear to me that the money is going to that individual. It could be that he runs the class and the fee goes to the club. So you might want to clarify the situation.

It would also be worth checking if any rent is paid by the club to the building owner.

CramCycle

Glad they got a nice break (mentioned earlier I think) in December, just after the grant came in. Obviously to take a break from all the hard work of getting the proposal written up and processed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlYATrvGGl0

As an Uncle of mine in Mayo asked, would be interesting to see if the money is still resting in their account as they have not bought the spin bikes yet.

Beasty

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

So you might want to clarify the situation.

It seems to me that the club in question has been very quiet about all of this. They could quite easily clarify the whole situation which should stop any hares running (assuming of course that everything is completely above board here)

Lusk_Doyle

Beasty wrote: »

It seems to me that the club in question has been very quiet about all of this. They could quite easily clarify the whole situation which should stop any hares running (assuming of course that everything is completely above board here)

They don't have to justify anything to anyone on here though and unless some sort of audit is done by the awarding or other body then why should they have to?

terrydel

CramCycle wrote: »

Glad they got a nice break (mentioned earlier I think) in December, just after the grant came in. Obviously to take a break from all the hard work of getting the proposal written up and processed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlYATrvGGl0

As an Uncle of mine in Mayo asked, would be interesting to see if the money is still resting in their account as they have not bought the spin bikes yet.

Whoever the person is with the heart rate monitor displayed, they could do with doing a few of those spnning classes :P

<SNIP>