Vol. 509 No. 2
44 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if the review of the code of ethics of good practice in sport has been completed; if so, when it will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19916/99]
Following the publication of the report of the independent inquiry into matters relating to child sexual abuse in swimming, I requested Dr. Breda McLeavey, chairperson of the expert committee which drew up the code of ethics and good practice for children's sport in Ireland, to reconvene the committee to review the code's contents in the light of Dr. Murphy's report.
The committee has already carried out a considerable amount of work to date and up to recently was awaiting the preparation of new guidelines by the Department of Health and Children on handling child abuse cases before completing its review. The Department of Health and Children published these guidelines on 21 September 1999 and the committee is currently incorporating the relevant areas of the guidelines into the new code.
The Irish Sports Council, established on a statutory basis since 1 July 1999, intends in accordance with its functions as set out at section 6 (c) of the Irish Sports Council Act, 1999, to consult with the national governing bodies of sport in relation to the revised code of ethics and good practice for children's sport. Following this process arrangements will be made for the publication of the revised code at the earliest possible date.
