“We learnt coming out of Covid that how we had operated in the past could change. We developed more responsive programmes.

“As we’ve transitioned from a pandemic and urgent way of working back to business as usual, we wanted to bring more of those practices in.

“That’s led to a shift in emphasis and focus in some of the programmes we’ve been running, in some cases, for many years. And in that process there wasn’t the full utilisation as we would have wanted.”

Last year Sport NI met only 53% of its Business Plan objectives, with business planning delayed by six months instead of being approved before the start of the new financial year.

In addition, it is currently is working through an arrears of outstanding National Lottery accounts. The last audit of accounts certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General were those for 2015-6.

“There was a period 10 years ago where there was a backlog that built up in both our Lottery and Exchequer accounts,” Archibald explained.

“It’s challenging because the lottery accounts have to go through both the Northern Ireland Audio Office and the National Audit Office – but we had the 2015-6 accounts laid in Parliament in September and we are due to finish another three sets of accounts by the end of March. We are putting in a huge amount of effort to bring them up to date.

“The focus for us now is on leadership – and a lot of effort has gone into that over the last two years to ensure that is the case, without disrupting our support to the governing bodies, the sports clubs, and making sure we have enough resources to access and provide more money for more sports.”