I propose to take Questions Nos. 28, 29 and 47 together.
Section 6(1)(d) of the Irish Sports Council Act, 1999, gives statutory responsibility to the council, established on 1 July last, to take whatever action it considers appropriate, including testing, to combat doping in sport.
Last weekend, I was pleased to launch the Irish Sport Council's national anti-doping programme and the first anti-doping test under the programme was carried out last Sunday. The programme has been designed with reference to the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention, 1989, which seeks a three strand approach to the reduction of doping in sport, namely, testing, research and educational programmes and information campaigns.
Testing will be focused on priority sports in the coming months and carded athletes and competitors bound for Sydney will be given immediate priority in the testing programme. To re-emphasise the importance attached to the implementation of the national anti-doping programme, national governing bodies are obliged to authorise the council to conduct testing of their athletes as a condition of funding.
The national anti-doping programme was launched as part of a major education conference for national governing body administrators, anti-doping officers, medical officers, national coaches and sports persons, held on 20 and 21 November 1999. The conference, hosted by the Irish Sports Council, outlined in detail the various elements of the programme and its operation and also dealt with many important issues that are vital for a successful anti-doping programme.
Dr. Conor O'Brien has been appointed chairman of the council's anti-doping committee. The committee will advise and assist the council on policy formulation relating to the three strands of testing, education and research required and it will also advise and assist the council's staff on policy implementation issues.
I have always believed that education has an important role to play in creating a sporting environment which fosters the pursuit of excellence and fulfilment in sport by fair and ethical means, as recognised by the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention, 1989.
As I have mentioned, the sports council's anti-doping programme has been designed to encompass broad educational programmes and informational campaigns. The council will emphasise the dangers to health inherent in doping and its harm to the ethical values of sport and the potential health risks in the misuse of other products such as food supplements. It is expected that the Sports Council will develop campaigns in co-operation with the National Coaching and Training Centre, Limerick, the national governing bodies and the health promotion unit of the Department of Health and Children, to take advantage of that unit's considerable experience in promulgating health education campaigns. The question of consultation with the Department of Education and Science will also be brought to the council's attention.
While my core objective up to now has been the introduction of the national sports anti-doping programme, which is predicated on active participation of autonomous national governing bodies of sport, I have also felt the measures in the programme might be complemented through the application of certain legislative based measures. A number of options have been identified, most specifically in the area of possession and supply of certain performance enhancing drugs. In this regard, I have had discussions with the Minister for Health and Children with regard to incorporating certain substances used in sport under Ireland's general drugs legislation. Discussions are at an advanced stage with regard to the types of drugs used for the enhancement of sport performances that may be suitable for inclusion in the Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act, and it is expected that amending legislation will be ready by the end of the year. Including certain performance enhancing drugs will send a very strong signal to those coaches, trainers, athletes and any other persons found in possession of such specified drugs that they will, in future, be committing an offence under Irish law, and be subject to the full rigours of that law.
Drug abuse in sport, of its nature, cannot be tackled at just national level. Doping in sport is an international problem which requires a concerted and co-ordinated response at international level. This has also been acknowledged at European level where the EU has committed itself to work with sports organisations in the fight against doping in sport. At the instigation of EU Sports Ministers, the European Commission has established a working group composed of officials of member states to assist in preparing a report on harmonising national and European assistance for doping control, and substantial agreement has also been reached on the tackling of the doping problem on a worldwide scale involving the establishment of a world anti-doping agency. It is vital that we work collectively to address the issues involved in doping in sport.