Irish sports bodies complain to IOC

The disagreement between the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) and several Irish sports federations has escalated and moved into the international arena after three letters of complaint were sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne.

The Athletic Association of Ireland (AAI), The Irish Canoe Union and Swim Ireland have each issued letters questioning whether the OCI charter is in keeping with the principles of the International Olympic charter.

A copy of one of the letters which The Irish Times has seen questions the way the OCI has conducted business over the past number of years and asks whether it is in keeping with the spirit of the Olympic charter. Yesterday an IOC spokesperson in Lausanne confirmed that they had received two of the letters.

"We can confirm that we received two letters from swimming and athletics. The next step is to bring the issue up with the OCI. In this kind of case we always try to find a solution hand in hand with the national Olympic committee," said IOC official Michel Filliau.

One of the letters, dated December 21st and addressed to Pere Mirot, who heads the body in charge of relations between national Olympic committees and the IOC, outlines a number of areas of dissatisfaction.

It refers to the "repeated and seemingly unnecessary conflict with the Irish Government and Irish Government agencies despite this being incompatible with article 31.5 of the International Olympic charter."

Other complaints focus on the issue of the OCI having "been involved in a series of highly publicised disputes with a number of its affiliated national federations" and asserts that there is "a lack of accountability by the OCI executive to the national federations which constitute the Olympic Council of Ireland and that this has led to a deterioration in the prestige and authority of the Irish national Olympic committee".

The way that voting is conducted is also a source of concern with two of the federations complaining that it is incredibly difficult to bring about change.

"At OCI general assembly meetings the total possible voting electorate consists of 38 votes. This electorate includes one IOC member, 10 executive members and 27 national federations. Since the IOC member to Ireland is also the OCI president, the executive has effectively a voting block of 11 votes," says the letter.

The Olympic Council of Ireland, contacted yesterday, said that this was simply yet another in a long line of attempts at undermining the organisation.

"These moves are part of an attempted smear campaign which is politically motivated," said a spokesperson. "The complaints have no substance and smack of petty opportunism. The OCI totally complies with the statutes and laws of Ireland and is fully democratic in its voting structure, not only that but it fully complies with all the rules of the International Olympic Committee and its charter," said a spokesperson.

The timing of the letters comes during a period when the Irish Sports Council are investigating what has been tagged the "Sydney Experience" and just weeks before the Olympic Council's a.g.m., which is scheduled for February 15th in Jurys Hotel, Dublin.

It is the first time that the IOC have become involved in what has until now been a domestic issue. During the Olympics in Sydney last September the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr Jim McDaid, was denied the requested number of accreditations for the games while ongoing differences between Irish athletics and the Irish Sports Council with the Olympic Council have been regularly highlighted in the media.

The Olympic Council have made some moves towards reconciliation recently in readmitting Irish athletics into the OCI as a voting member and offering a place on their council to an elected Olympic athlete, but clearly differences of opinion remain acute.