Bernard Allen
Question:25 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the progress, if any, being made by the inquiry into abuse in swimming; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7389/98]
Priority Questions. - Child Abuse Inquiry.
Michael Ferris
Question:26 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the number of people who have made statements or given interviews to the independent inquiry into sexual abuse in swimming being conducted by a person (details supplied); the number who have refused to make statements or otherwise co-operate; and when the final report will be made public. [7420/98]
I propose to take Question Nos. 25 and 26 together.
The independent inquiry on matters relating to child sexual abuse in swimming is being carried out by Dr. Roderick Murphy, SC. Dr. Murphy, who is conducting his investigations in private, reported on 10 March on progress to date at his inquiry. He indicated that almost 50 hours of hearing has been held since his appointment on 10 February with victims, parents of victims, coaches and officials from the Irish Amateur Swimming Association and its Leinster branch. He has also received written submissions, including a large amount of documentation from the swimming bodies, in relation to their organisation in general and to their procedures for dealing with complaints in particular. I understand Dr. Murphy will include details of the number of parties who made submissions or who gave interviews to the inquiry in his final report.
Dr. Murphy proposes to continue to hear evidence up to the end of this week. By that time he expects to have sufficient material available to him from submissions and interviews to prepare a report which addresses the matters raised in the terms of reference of the inquiry.
Dr. Murphy aims to complete his report by the end of the month and once I have received it and given it initial consideration I intend to make its findings public. However, a decision on publication of the full contents of the report cannot be made until it is received and all the implications of publication have been considered.
Will the Minister agree that, unless the full report is published, the report and the procedures which have been followed hitherto will be seriously devalued? I await the publication of the report. Despite my request, the Minister did not publish the interim report.
Will he consider lifting the financial sanctions he imposed on the IASA in the interests of catering for the athletes? The only people who have been victimised and have suffered because of these sanctions are the athletes who are being hindered in their preparations for international events. It is ironic that the only people who have suffered and who may have to pay are the athletes, who are the innocent parties.
I will try to publish as much of the report as possible. However, the Deputy must be aware that I cannot prejudice the report. We must wait until Dr. Murphy produces it.
None of the national organisations have received their allocations for 1998; they do not receive them until the end of April. I have circulated them with a request to bring forward for consideration their strategies for 1998. They will then be paid in full. The IASA is not at any disadvantage as a result of the actions which I have taken.
It has been suggested that I am punishing the swimmers. However, this is a matter for those involved in swimming, not me. The Government assists young people involved in swimming in every way possible and will continue to support them. The IASA receives the second or third largest allocation of any governing body. It must ensure its house is in order. I have taken action on the organisation to ensue that a safe environment exists for swimmers. When the report becomes available I will be prepared to lift the sanctions against the swimmers. However, I will not be made to lift them until such time as I am satisfied that a safe environment exists.
By the time the national organisations are due to receive funding for 1998 I will have received Dr. Murphy's report, including his conclusions. I also hope to have received the views of the IASA on the report. When it has shown how it is responding to the report I will be able to lift the sanctions.
I welcome the Minister's comments. When the IASA attended the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Sport and Recreation, it expressed concern about funding. There must be a retrospective procedure involved in its funding. It advised the committee it would run out of funds in two to three months and would scale down its international programme. I hope that when the Minister receives the report he will ensure swimmers are protected, an aim shared by all Members.
The Minister indicated the number of hours Dr. Murphy has spent interviewing. Does he have any idea of the number of people who refused to give evidence? Is he aware that over the weekend two very prominent people, Michelle De Bruin and Gary O'Toole, expressed surprise that they were not asked to give evidence. These two people have already made a major contribution to swimming, but one in particular intimated many years ago that problems had arisen and no action was taken. Would the Minister not agree that Mr. O'Toole in particular should have been asked to give evidence?
I cannot answer the Deputy's question about the number of people because this is a private inquiry. However, I am sure Dr. Murphy's report will make clear the number of people who came forward. It will not be possible to know how many did not come forward. As to the recent article on the question of people who were not asked to come forward, in mid-February we placed an advertisement in the national newspapers which constituted an open invitation to everybody concerned, including people outside swimming, to come forward and help the inquiry if they wished to do so. It was initially thought that we would have a report by 10 March. However, this work had to be carried out meticulously, and so many people came forward that it was decided to extend the time limit until the end of this week. It is still open to people to come forward up to Friday. I would encourage everybody who has information to offer to avail of this opportunity to do so.
The Minister should not imply we are not concerned about the safety of the environment for swimmers. What I am concerned about is the uncertainty surrounding the future of funding for the IASA which is causing concern among some of our leading swimmers. I am not making this up. The Minister surely heard the interviews given by some of our top swimmers expressing their concern. Will the Minister give a guarantee in the House that, irrespective of the outcome of the tribunal, and whether funding goes through the IASA or through a third party, our top swimmers and athletes will not be penalised because of this controversy. Will the Minister clear the air for those people who are preparing for world championships, who are preparing a programme for the next Olympics, and who are now in a serious state of uncertainty.
I will not give a guarantee until I am absolutely satisfied that swimming provides a safe environment for all who participate in it. On the question of funding, which is £230,000, the second largest sum received by any national governing body, this funding does not apply until the end of April. No national governing body will receive any funding until that date.
I am referring to the uncertainty of future funding.
Nobody will be at a disadvantage until then. I will only consider recommending that funding for the IASA be restored when I have received assurances from them that they are implementing the recommendations of the Murphy report.
The Minister is living in a cocoon, in a fool's paradise.
I am sure the Minister is aware that when the IASA appeared before an Oireachtas committee it stated that the code of ethics, albeit a voluntary code of ethics, was now being operated rigidly in all clubs and branches. The public in general has welcomed the fact that the IASA had the opportunity to say that definitively. On the basis that clubs are operating within the guidelines and that the safety of swimmers is protected, it is important that funding be restored. I want to be as positive as can be. I had a communication directly from the IASA to the effect that because of the uncertainty of their future they are curtailing some international events, particularly the international event in Hamburg. We want to make sure that our top class swimmers, who are innocent in all of this, are facilitated in every way possible by the Minister and his Department.
Is it not unfortunate that it should take an incident like this to prompt everybody to take note of Deputy Allen's code of ethics, which we have all praised in the past? I will ensure that the swimming association will be able to go ahead with future competitions. I do not want to hinder it in any way. However, I will not restore funding until it is quite clear that any deficiencies are dealt with and the code of ethics is implemented. I want to restore funding to the IASA but I must await the Murphy report and the IASA's response to it. Having met officials of the IASA I am quite sure of their determination to bring their sport up to the level where it should be. I have no doubt that these dedicated officials will be able to do that and that I will be able to restore funding at an early stage.
Irrespective of whether the inquiry deems the IASA fit to distribute funding or to manage its affairs, will the Minister give a commitment that funding will be made available, through the High Performance Committee of the Sports Council or through another body, to enable our athletes who are now under a cloud of uncertainty to prepare for world class events. The present situation is unfair to them. Like the other victims, they are innocent victims in all of this. I am only trying to find a way of comforting these people by trying to ensure their efforts will not be for nought.
The future of swimming rests with the swimming fraternity. It is up to them to convince me and others that there is a safe environment for swimmers and that the happenings of the past cannot be repeated. We should not go ahead if circumstances still exist which gave rise to abuse in the past. Nobody would want that, nor would the elite swimmers. They would be the first people not to agree to go ahead in such circumstances. They want to ensure that everything is as it should be in their sport.
That goes without saying. Everybody favours that, but this involves technicalities.
I am confident the officials will continue to work towards that position and that the funding will be restored.