Radical overhaul of system proposed

There was cause for a sense of renewed faith at Government Buildings yesterday when the consultants brought in to review Ireland's performance at the Sydney Olympics published their report, which included no fewer than 29 recommendations for overhauling how elite sport is administered here.

The detailed, £20,000 report, commissioned by the Irish Sports Council (ISC), received a generally warm welcome at yesterday's reception. Implementing it? Well, that's another issue.

The chairman of the steering review group, Finbar Costello, pointed out that in 1976 Australia won only one bronze medal. In Sydney, Ireland took home one silver medal and was placed 64th out of 80 medal-winning nations. We may be 24 years behind, but, as Costello said: "The recommendations put forward by the review group have the same structure as that of Australia." In Sydney the Aussies won 56 medals.

The review, introduced by the Minister for Sport, Dr McDaid, and the main British consultants, Mark England and Kevin Hickey, both of whom have had experience in the British Olympic Association, covered the broad sweep of athletes, organisations, funding, culture and management.

It put Ireland's entire Olympic machine under the microscope and discovered that it had many viruses. In that respect there is much to fix.

Prime among the report's recommendations is that the young Sports Council needs to alter focus, the National Coaching and Training Centre (NCTC) in Limerick must be reassessed and the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) must not just change, but change utterly.

"We will take it all on board," said ISC chief executive John Treacy. "It's a comprehensive document and we have no problem with it."

The 29 recommendations are phased over four specific periods, from March of next year to the Athens Games in 2004. They flow from a series of meetings, interviews and research conducted last December and January and form the basis of the 62-page report.

Minister McDaid hoped the review would focus particularly on the relationships that exist, or, as it transpired, do not exist between the various bodies and agencies involved in the preparation and participation of the Irish Olympic team at Sydney.

A chart presented in the review shows clearly the consistent under-performance by the Irish team relative to other countries with a similar demographic base. In Sydney, Ireland was sixth out of a seven-country league table which also contained Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, Croatia, Moldova and Costa Rica, the only nation to perform more poorly.

The report criticises the Government for financing capital investment rather than "supporting the national governing bodies high-performance programmes". The ISC draws flak for their "carding scheme", which amongst many things failed to address the issue of support for squads and developmental structures and does not concentrate on future targets of athletes in terms of top level competition.

The ISC were also criticised for failing to fund coaches, who are critical to an athlete's performance.

Both the ISC and the OCI suggested it was time for the NCTC to be reviewed, and the review group supported this. They argued the NCTC has "too wide a brief" for the resources and expertise available.

"I want to state publicly that I accept fully the 29 recommendations of the report," said Minister McDaid. "I will actively monitor, on an ongoing basis, the implementation of these recommendations by all parties involved in the policy and preparation of the Irish team in 2004."

While candid, the review also offered the olive branch and sought to make the changes in a spirit of co-operation and respect. That has also been the theme of both Pat Hickey and Richard Burrows OCI presidential campaigns. At the moment, at least, there's a lot of big talk.