Vol. 502 No. 2
4 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the advice he can offer a person (details supplied) in County Dublin who is hoping to compete at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and is currently wholly funded by her family; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7414/99]
The international carding scheme, which I launched in 1998, provides a range of supports, both financial and non-financial, to assist Ireland's high performance players and athletes to perform at the highest levels of international sport. Qualification for the scheme is based on sports specific criteria which have been agreed with the relevant national governing bodies of sport. Application forms for funding under the scheme are forwarded by the relevant national governing bodies to individuals who in their knowledge, may meet the qualifying criteria for the sport, and returned to my Department for processing and final decision.
I understand the person referred to by the Deputy is a swimmer. Sports specific criteria for swimming have still to be developed under the carding scheme. The AGM of the Swimming Association took place on 24 January 1999 when the IASA, the previous governing body for the sport, was disbanded and a new swimming body, Swim Ireland, was formally established, I understand that certain progress has been made and a further general meeting of the organisation is planned for April next, when a new executive is due to be voted in and appointed. I have stressed to the new body that as soon as the wider membership have expressed their satisfaction that appropriate steps have been taken to address the issues highlighted by the Murphy report on the incidence of child sexual abuse in swimming, I will be in a position to restore funding to the organisation.
In the interim, having regard to the situation of individual swimmers, I have agreed that the Irish Sports Council will commence preparatory work on developing sports specific criteria for swimming in the context that the sport may be included in the 1999 carding scheme. This provides a mechanism whereby, in the event that funding is restored, there should be no delay in awarding funding to individual swimmers who qualify for inclusion in the scheme by reference to the sports specific criteria as developed.
The person referred to by the Deputy should keep in touch with Swim Ireland and in another reply to the House today I have encouraged all members of the new body, constituent clubs, and affiliates to participate wholeheartedly in the preparations for, and the conduct of, the upcoming AGM to ensure confidence in the organisation of the sport is restored.
Does the Minister agree an elite swimmer, referred to in the question, is effectively penalised for the mismanagement and totally unacceptable behaviour of those involved in the sport in the past? Will funding be restored to the elite swimmers themselves or will they have to wait until Swim Ireland is effectively up and running? Will the Minister ensure the guidelines for funding of elite swimmers will be restored on an equitable basis so that each one on the team will be able to benefit from funding? At present swimmers have to fund from their own resources training trips to Arizona and England. Does the Minister consider this acceptable when they are under enormous strain and expectations are put on them?
I would like to see a new beginning for Swim Ireland and a new generation of leaders in swimming. The Deputy must understand that it is impossible for me to distinguish between the elite swimmers and the children. I refuse to fractionalise so that I would be seen to look after the elite and not the younger swimmers.
Organisations are made up of individuals and it is up to the individuals to put their houses in order and as soon as I am satisfied that children's safety is looked after I will be in a position to restore funding to the organisation. We tend to forget what happened, there was horrific child sexual abuse and it was happening in the schools. I do not want to hold back funding for a particular swimmer, but it is up to the organisation to put its house in order. Swim Ireland will hold its AGM in April. I want each club to encourage people to allow their names go forward for positions. Membership of clubs is not confined to children, parents can join, pay a fee of £5 or £10 a year and go as a delegate to the AGM. If parents are interested in their children, they can go as delegates to the AGM and exercise their democratic rights. That is why I want to see a new beginning and a new generation becoming involved in Swim Ireland but that is a matter for the organisation, I cannot become involved.
As regards the swimmer mentioned by the Deputy, I want to be able to restore funding to all areas of swimming as soon as possible. As regards the carding system which did not include swimming, I have asked the Sports Council of Ireland to draw up the criteria under which these swimmers will qualify for it. I introduced this system last year. The grant provided depends on an athlete's world ranking. We have the best carding system in Europe and Irish athletes get higher grants than those from any other European country. If an athlete is ranked between first and third in the world he or she receives the full grant, which is £25,000. The payments are graduated through to juveniles and people with disabilities. When the organisation is set up the person mentioned can apply for funding through it. There is a scale of payments so she should know how much she would receive, based on her world ranking. If the organisation puts itself in order, I assure the Deputy that the payments will be retrospective.
Will there be an equitable distribution among the top swimmers in the team? Each makes the same journey and has the same expenditure. In advance of Swim Ireland qualifying for the scheme, does the Minister favour a policy similar to that in other countries, under which elite athletes and swimmers are given credit for their sporting attainments and are able to go to university in their own country? In Ireland they must choose between their sport and their studies but that does not happen in the North or the US. Will he consider working with his colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, to ensure top athletes are given credit for the time and effort put into their sport?
If a national organisation intends to enter a team in an international competition, it submits its plan for the year to the Sports Council in January of that year, and that plan includes the cost of the team's participation. The carding system applies to individual athletes. The team may be made up of four people with different places in the world ranking who would receive different levels of grant aid.
Yes, but they all must do the same amount of training.
I am talking about the grants they receive. I agree there should be equity. As regards the education system, I would like to see what the Deputy suggests and I am sure I could discuss that matter with the Minister for Education and Science. We had a problem heretofore in that we did not have training facilities for elite athletes. I hope the 50 metre pool will be built soon and preparations are advanced but as the Deputy is aware the matter is before the courts and, consequently, progress is stalled. I understand the next court hearing is on 12 May. Our swimmers have to develop in their teens and I hope we can provide a 50 metre pool to facilitate their training and education in Ireland, so that they do not have to go abroad.
The Minister has all-party support in stamping out the evil of sex abuse in sport, in this case, swimming. However, does he not think the decision to deny funding to top class athletes over the last 12 months was a serious error of judgment? With hindsight, does he not agree he should have accepted the suggestion, put forward by myself and others, that he should have continued to fund those athletes through the Sports Council of Ireland while the swimming body was being re-organised? Is he aware that his failure to fund these athletes has jeopardised their preparation for the Sydney Olympics and affected their performance at events across the world, and that some athletes have been forced to sleep on floors and stay in hostels because he terminated their funding?
The Minister expressed equal concern for funding young people as for funding top class athletes. Can he reconcile that statement with his Department's refusal to fund the Irish Schools' Swimming Association's quadrangular international tournament?
The Deputy is widening enormously the scope of his question, which related to an individual.
It was the Minister who broadened it through his response.
The Minister is entitled to make whatever response he likes.
I am not entitled to ask any questions which arise?
It is not open to the Deputy to widen the scope of the question to the extent he is now attempting to do. I have allowed a certain amount of latitude but there are other questions on the Order Paper to be dealt with. If the Deputy wishes to pursue this line I suggest he put down a separate parliamentary question.
I have a problem if the Minister can range widely and give whatever answer he wants and I must accept what he says.
The Deputy has a solution to that problem, he can put down another question. I have allowed him enormous scope and we have already spent 14 minutes on this question, which concerns one individual.
This is my first supplementary question.
Yes but it is a long question. We must go on to other questions and we cannot spend this long on an individual question.
Perhaps the Minister can reply to the questions I have raised.
The Deputy may be satisfied with the elite area but I am not. I will not fund the elite athletes and neglect the children.
No one is asking him to do that, it is not a question of one or the other. The Minister is taking a simplistic, narrow-minded approach. The innocent are suffering and they had no hand, act or part in this scandal.
I do not differentiate, my priority has always been the safety of children who swim. In answer to the second question, I do not accept the performance of our athletes has been hindered by my decision.
The Minister must be blind and deaf if he thinks that. He has not heeded the complaints.
The swimmer who was reportedly sleeping on a mattress was one of only two who were funded by the Olympic Council of Ireland. I do not know how much funding he received. The OCI made a great deal of the fact that they were funding swimmers but if this man ended up sleeping on the floor of a flat in Europe, how much did the OCI give him?
What funding did the Minister give him?
As regards funding for schools, the Deputy forgets it was in the clubs attached to schools that sexual abuse took place. I do not regret any of the decisions I made.
On a point of order, the Minister has made a serious allegation.
That is not a point of order.
I will ask a question then. Will the Minister withdraw the serious allegation he made against the Irish Schools' Swimming Association which is separate to Swim Ireland, the body involved in the sex scandal? Will he withdraw the slur and insult he has just uttered against the Irish Schools' Swimming Association which has a separate constitution and separate officers, who are mainly reputable secondary school teachers, and—
The Deputy is making a statement. I call on the Minister to make a final comment.
—which has failed to obtain funding from the Minister—
The Deputy should resume his seat, he is making a long statement. This is Question Time.
—in respect of an international swimming competition to be held in Galway in two weeks' time.
I am amazed by the Deputy's comments.
The Minister is a disgrace. He should withdraw the allegation.
It is the children in our schools who I am determined to try to protect. I will not restore funding until I obtain a guarantee that the children participating in swimming are safe. I reiterate that the sexual abuse took place in clubs attached to the schools.
That is a different matter.
My priorities are the schools and the safety of children and I see no reason to withdraw my comments because I did not utter any slur or insult.
Does the Minister intend to provide the association with the funding to which I referred?
