Each year we send the report out in the first week of January and start getting feedback the following week. Last year, for the first time, we sent out e-mail reminders two days after the reports were posted and the amount of feedback we received increased dramatically over previous years. The response rate is affected by many factors, not least whether there is a down turn in the economy and if the weather is bad. The level of service we provide has less impact than these factors, though more than the price we charge, which has almost no impact at all. Almost all of the feedback we receive is very useful, though some people just send in complaints, which is far from useful. Most of the complaints are about things we have no control over at all.

Social researchers had for some time been predicting the growth in sporting activity that we have experienced over the past five years. They now point to the changing economic situation, the increased availability of (and funding for) sporting facilities and the success of Irish athletes as the key reasons for this growth. They also note that increasing Irish athletic success has helped achieve this greater funding for sporting facilities, which has in turn increased the number of world class Irish athletes.