Significant confusion has surrounded Swim Ireland's a.g.m. scheduled for this weekend. Only days before one of the most important meetings of the body since the jailing of Olympic coach Derry O'Rourke over a year ago for sexually abusing young swimmers, there are currently 56 clubs who are not affiliated to the governing body and who are, as of yesterday, not eligible to contribute to Sunday's meeting in the Ashling Hotel in Dublin.
Eighty three clubs were initially effectively denied membership of what was formerly the Irish Amateur Swimming Association because they had not "fulfilled the minimum criteria for membership of Swim Ireland". The "minimum criteria" pertains to the provision of a membership form filled out correctly and an appropriate membership fee. Since the list of 83 was circulated a number of clubs have responded but almost half of the entire membership of approximately 120 have not.
A considerable percentage of top clubs, including Garda SC and Clontarf SC as well as Michelle de Bruin's club MS3Gold SC may be excluded from contributing to the a.g.m., at which the top positions in Swim Ireland will be decided by voting. Clubs will not be eligible to vote if they are not bona fide members of the governing body.
A Leinster representative to the Swim Ireland board said that it is now too late for those listed clubs to claim membership. "Everything was supposed to be in by last Monday 19th. Our understanding is that everything had to be in by then or else you can't vote," said the official.
However, according to the administrative section of Swim Ireland, memberships will be accepted on Sunday. This presents the nightmare scenario of over 50 clubs turning up before 10.00 a.m. looking for their memberships to be processed. In a press statement the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation Dr Jim McDaid also confirmed that clubs could affiliate before Sunday.
"This meeting is the most important meeting in the history of swimming and I urge all those in the wider swimming community to ensure that they have a voice in securing the future of swimming in Ireland and to that end I wish to remind any clubs which have not yet affiliated that they do so before Sunday next in order to participate fully in the process," the Minister said. He encouraged all involved "to participate fully in ensuring that the sport of swimming is reorganised and managed in a democratic, efficient and caring manner".
This is not the first time a meeting which could shape the future of the sport has been shrouded in confusion. At the last e.g.m. in January, many delegates claimed to have been disenfranchised because forms were not circulated to clubs in time for those clubs to discuss them before the e.g.m. took place.
Another issue of considerable debate, according to one delegate, is the question on one of the forms which asks clubs to abide by the rules and regulations of Swim Ireland. The problem is that the delegate has not yet seen any rules and regulations, the suspicion being that none currently exist. Clubs are naturally hesitant to sign up to a set of rules about which they know nothing.
