Triton club to quit swimming body in protest at handling of complaints

One of Ireland's best-known swimming clubs is to disaffiliate from the sport's national body, in protest at its handling of abuse cases.

The Triton club in Bray, Co Wicklow, whose most celebrated member is the ex-international swimmer Mr Gary O'Toole, announced it was quitting the Irish Amateur Swimming Association over its handling of complaints about two former national coaches, Derry O'Rourke and Mr George Gibney.

Triton's head coach - Mr O'Toole's father, Aidan - said the club was quitting in "disgust" at the way the IASA had dealt with the two cases. He also contradicted the association's honorary secretary, Ms Celia Millane, who said in an RTE radio interview yesterday that neither she nor the IASA had ever been notified of complaints about O'Rourke.

Mr Aidan O'Toole claimed that in conversation with his wife, Kay, at the time of the investigation into Mr Gibney, Ms Millane had acknowledged she knew of a complaint against O'Rourke when she was a committee member at his club.

Mrs Kay O'Toole told The Irish Times that during the conversation, in 1992 or 1993, Ms Millane told her that while she had never had reason to suspect Mr Gibney of abuse, she could not say the same about O'Rourke. Specifically, she (Ms Millane) had said that, while a committee member in his club, she had been asked to talk to O'Rourke about a complaint of abuse made against him by a young girl.

Ms Millane last night rejected the claim, saying she had never spoken to O'Rourke about such a matter. She added she had never been made aware of any such complaint. "I think the worst thing said about him was that he used to walk through the girls' showers, but I certainly never heard of any of these allegations. They can say anything they like, but I have no memory of that conversation."

Ms Millane also moved last night to soften comments she made earlier in the day on the responsibility of parents to ensure their children's safety. E radio if she had a message for parents in the wake of the O'Rourke case, she had responded: "The first thing I would say to any parent is: your child is your child and your responsibility. And certainly with my child I would make sure everything was OK before I left them, for an hour or for a day. With my children, I have always made sure I knew where they were. I went into the club, I was on the banks, (STET) I went to competitions with them. I did not abandon them, and I'm not saying parents abandon them, but people are very, very trusting and that day is gone".

Speaking last night, Ms Millane said she might have "gone a bit overboard" in her comments.