Minister, Irish team, paralympic council condemn columnist's views

Disgust and outrage were expressed by the Irish Paralympic team management in Sydney yesterday in the wake of comments by journalist Mary Ellen Synon in her Sunday Independent column. In the article Miss Synon described the Paralympic Games as "grotesque" and "perverse". She commented that physical competition "is not about finding someone who can wobble his way around a track in a wheelchair, or can swim from one end of a pool to the other by Braille".

The Minister of State for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Mr Eoin Ryan, who is representing the Government at the Games, condemned the article.

"I'm absolutely shocked," he said. "It's hard to take it seriously. It's an extraordinary outburst from somebody who clearly knows very little about the subject . . . this woman obviously has no faults, mentally or physically."

The Chef de Mission of the Irish team in Sydney, Mr Jim McBride, spoke yesterday of being "disgusted and sickened" after reading the article. He said he was exploring the possibility of legal action.

After consulting the International Paralympic Committee and the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee, Mr McBride released a statement strongly critical of both the editor and owner of the Sunday Independent.

"I would say they are the ones who are `grotesque and perverse' for printing such a totally discriminatory article," he said. "It is a slur, not only on the Irish Paralympic team here in Sydney, but also on the other 128 nations and 4,000 athletes competing. "I would encourage every decent thinking Irish person to make their feelings known publicly about the attitude and discriminatory remarks made by the Sunday Independent in relation to Paralympians of Ireland and the rest of the world," he added.

While the majority of the squad had not been told of the article, a number of those who were aware of it thought it appropriate not to dignify Miss Synon's views with a response.

They spoke only of the hurt and upset that it may cause during what has been a spectacular success, both in a sporting sense and in the spirited way the people of Australia had recognised and embraced the Games.

Ms Anne Ebbs, secretary general of the Irish Paralympic Council, and herself a wheelchair user, said last night: "I can't believe that a paper would allow something like that to be printed.

"There are some people in the team who could be very upset by it all because it was very, very, offensive."

Ms Ebbs perhaps summed up the feelings of the team best when she said: "We will just have to put the whole dreadful episode behind us and get on with the serious business of winning medals."

On that score, it appears there will be no problems. On the fifth day of the 11-day festival, over one million tickets have already been sold. Nearly 40,000 people turned out in Stadium Australia on Sunday evening for the track and field events and many sports are regularly played out in front of capacity crowds.

The major success stories of the day were from the boccia arena, where Johnny Cronin and Gay Shelley both made it through to the individual semi-finals. The duo will face tough opposition in today's matches, but both are confident of victory.