I propose taking Questions Nos. 21 and 22 together. The Government decided yesterday to appoint Dr. Roderick Murphy, SC, Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, to investigate certain matters relating to the affairs of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association, IASA, its Leinster Branch and affiliated clubs.
In arriving at its decision, the Government took account of all the issues arising, including the concerns of victims, the desire for privacy of a number of victims and their families and the wider public policy issue of how best child sex abuse cases should be handled in such circumstances in future.
Having weighed up all these issues, the Government took its course of action in the interest of the victims, children currently in swimming and children in sport generally and in order to secure a speedy inquiry.
Dr. Murphy has been asked to conduct his investigations in private and to report to the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation by 10 March 1998. Subject to the need to preserve the confidentiality of victims, his findings will be made public. The matters which Dr. Murphy has been asked to report on are the following: the arrangements which the IASA, the Leinster Branch and affiliated clubs, had in place since 1975 for the detection and prevention of child sexual abuse; the procedures, including functional responsibilities, which the IASA, the Leinster Branch and affiliated clubs had in place for securing compliance with these arrangements; the manner in which complaints in relation to sexual abuse made to the IASA, the Leinster Branch and affiliated clubs were dealt with over that period; the manner in which any complaints in relation to two named coaches reported to the IASA, their Leinster branch or affiliated clubs, were handled by them over that period; the arrangements which the IASA, all their provincial branches and affiliated clubs now have in place to detect and prevent child sexual abuse, including arrangements while complaints are being investigated, and sanctions; and the adequacy of arrangements now in place for the protection of children in swimming.
A code of ethics and good practice for children's sport in Ireland, developed by a specially established expert committee under the auspices of the Department of Education was published in June 1996 and issued to all the governing bodies of sport. The code provides detailed guidelines and assistance for sports organisations in the proper treatment of children in sport. The National Coaching and Training Centre, having specific regard to the code, subsequently incorporated a module on ethics in sport in its ongoing national coaching development programme, which is run in partnership with the governing bodies.
It is planned to hold a seminar later this year involving the governing bodies which will include a review of their experience to date with the implementation of the code. In the interim, while the code of ethics is widely regarded as a model of best practice for the protection of children in sport, I propose to reconvene the expert group who compiled the code to consider the report of Dr. Murphy's investigation in the context of the need for any further additions to the code following his findings.