I welcome Mr. Patrick Hickey, president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, and his colleagues Mr. Dermot Henihan, Tom Rafter and Dermot Sherlock. At this time when they are busy preparing for the Olympic Games in China, I am grateful they have taken time to meet the joint committee and brief its members. I ask the president, Mr. Hickey, to begin the presentation.
Beijing Olympics: Discussion with Olympic Council of Ireland.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
I thank the Chairman and the members for inviting us before the committee to give an update on our preparations for the Olympic Games in Beijing. I will first introduce my team and explain their functions. Dermot Sherlock is the honorary general secretary of the Olympic Council of Ireland and comes from the sport of boxing. Dermot Henihan is the chef de mission, or team leader, for the team to Beijing and is from the sport of rowing. Tom Rafter is the assistant chef de mission and is from the sport of fencing. I come from the sport of judo. Having introduced my team I emphasise that we are all volunteers. We do not receive any payment.
We are preparing for Beijing which is the biggest sporting event in the world. It will have the biggest television audience in the world, with more than 4 billion viewers. Mr. Henihan will explain how our team is progressing. We are very proud of the athletes who have qualified to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games in Beijing. It is extremely difficult to qualify. People tend to forget that after every Olympic Games the bar is raised in the qualification area and for a country of our population, we do extraordinarily well. A team of 51 have qualified. That is comparable to similar European countries such as Denmark, which has 23 or Finland, which has 35. For an athlete to even qualify for the games is an excellent achievement.
I will ask our chef de mission, Mr. Henihan, to make a brief presentation to the committee on our preparations and the team. Following that we will gladly answer any questions members may wish to ask.
Mr. Dermot Henihan
I thank the members for inviting us to come before the committee. I will try to be as brief as possible in announcing the entire team.
This is a presentation to the Dáil committee on our team for Beijing. Members might refer to the copies of the submission which were distributed. Before announcing the athletes I want to explain about accreditation. Everybody going to the Olympic Games has accreditation, which is limited. For the first time, following a hard fought battle by Dermot Sherlock and me, Ireland will have a greater number of coaches and medical personnel. When they finish their job they leave the Olympics and we can bring in people to cater for our athletes. We had 35 support personnel in Athens. We will have 50 support personnel in Beijing, which will make a substantial difference to our athletes.
We have teams in 12 sports, which are outlined in the submission, but for the first time we have a participant in the triathlon, which is very welcome. We have a number of other "firsts" which I will address as I make my contribution.
The next page shows a picture of the stadium. I assume the members like sport if they are on this committee but if they like modern architecture Beijing is the place to go to because it has provided us with the next wonder of the world, not only in terms of the bird's nest but the many other venues.
I will outline the details on the athletes. Fionnuala Britton from Wicklow will compete in the sport of athletics. Jamie Costin suffered a very serious accident prior to the games in Athens and was unable to compete. Fortunately, under the insurance policy he was flown home in a private ambulance jet and has now made it to Beijing. Alistair Cragg is the only person who has qualified in three different events. The counties the athletes are from are indicated to the left of their photographs. Joanne Cuddihy from Kilkenny will compete in the 400 metres event. Martin Fagan is our only marathon participant at the games. David Gillick will compete in the 400 metres event. Colin Griffin from Leitrim and Robert Heffernan from Cork, who are doing very well, will compete in the 20 kilometres walk. We hope Paul Hession is the fastest white man in the world. We have a few others but he is currently the fastest man in Ireland. Olive Loughnane, currently living in Cork but born in Galway, will compete in the 20 kilometres walk. Roisin McGettigan and Fionnuala Britton, mentioned earlier, both from Wicklow, will compete in the 3,000 metres steeplechase. Eileen O'Keeffe from Kilkenny will compete in the hammer event and Derval O'Rourke will compete in the 100 metre hurdles. That is a total of 13 athletes competing in the sport of athletics. The national championships will take place this weekend and if competitors qualify in any distance from 5,000 metres down, they may qualify for the Olympic Games but there is not necessarily anybody on the horizon.
The reason I show the Chinese and Olympic flags on the next page is that this is the first time the Olympic Games will be held in Beijing. On the next page I show that for the first time we have a male badminton player at the games, Scott Evans, from Dublin. Chloe Magee from Donegal will compete in the women's singles. She will probably participate in the event at the weekend. Chloe did very well in the US Open where she came second. The picture on the next page is the five women of the Olympics. I invented that; it is a photograph I took in Beijing because for the first time in a long time we have five boxers going to the games. It is great to be represented by Paddy Barnes from Antrim, Kenneth Egan from Dublin, John Joe Joyce from Westmeath, John Joe Nevin from Westmeath and Darren Sutherland from Dublin. They have all done tremendously well and it is wonderful to have five boxers on the team.
The next picture is of the rowing-canoeing venue, which is magnificent. What was a big field in 2005 is now a rowing and canoeing venue. Our sole representative is Eoin Rheinisch who will compete in the canoe slalom. Eoin was a gold medalist in the world cup. The next picture shows an empty Great Wall. Those travelling to the Olympic Games will not see the Great Wall empty. That would be very unusual but that is where the cycling road race starts. Nicholas Roche, a famous Irish cycling name, from Dublin and Phillip Deignan, another Donegal person, will compete in the road race.
On the track, finishing sixth in the world championships in Manchester, David O'Loughlin from Mayo will compete in the individual pursuit while Robin Seymour from Wicklow will compete in the mountain bike event.
The next picture is of the Hong Kong venue where the equestrian events will take place. It is a four hour flight from Beijing, which is a geographical nightmare in terms of the operation. We have five members in the eventing team - I will not name the horses - and they are Austin O'Connor from Cork, Geoff Curren from Waterford, Patricia Ryan from Cork, Niall Griffin from Wexford, our flag bearer on the last occasion, and Louise Lyons who was born in England; I do not know the county she is associated with. Sasha Pemble is the reserve. She will not travel to the games unless a horse is injured. Our sole show jumper is Denis Lynch from Tipperary.
The next picture in the presentation is a model of the stadium as one would look into it. It is a magnificent structure. Our sole fencer is Siobhan Byrne from County Meath competing in the sabre event.
The next picture is the rowing-canoe venue. We have two boats. We have athletes competing in the heavyweight coxless four event for the first time since 1976. They include Sean O'Neill from Limerick, Jonno Devlin from Antrim, Sean Casey from Kerry and Cormac Folan from Galway. Those competing in the lightweight coxless four event reached the finals in the last Olympics and took silver and bronze, respectively, in events in 2005 and 2006. They include Paul Griffin from Kerry, Richard Archibald from Derry, Gearoid Towey from Cork and Cathal Moynihan from Kerry.
The venue for sailing will be in Qingdao, which is 1 hour and 20 minutes travelling time south east of Beijing. Ciara Peelo from Dublin will compete in the laser radial event. She will be our flagbearer at the Olympic Games. Tim Goodbody from Wicklow will compete in the finn event. Gerald Owens and Philip Lawton both from Dublin will compete in the 470 event. Peter O'Leary from Cork and Stephen Milne from Down will compete in the star class event.
The next picture is a view of the Olympic green, from which many facilities can be easily accessed. Our sole shooter, Derek Burnett from Longford will compete in the Olympic trap event. He nearly made the finals at the last Olympics and can hopefully go one step further this time; if one makes it to the finals of an event, one never knows what might happen.
The next picture is a close up of the cubic roof of the aquatic centre. It is an amazing building. There was an Irish involvement in the cubic cells design of the roof. Those competing in the swimming events include Andrew Bree from Antrim and Aisling Cooney from Dublin. She was only selected last weekend and we had the privilege of meeting her. Melanie Nocher from County Down, who achieved a fantastic result in the British Championships last weekend, will also compete.
The next picture shows the entrance to the stadium and the people in the picture are security men from throughout the world.
For the first time we will have an athlete, Emma Davis from County Antrim, competing in the triathlon event. That makes up the 51 athletes.
I have listed the medical support for our athletes under the heading "Medical Excellence". Our chief medical officer is Dr. Sean Gaine, an eminent doctor, and this will be the second Olympic Games in which he will be involved. Our chief physiotherapist is Dr. Marie Elaine Grant and this will be the sixth Olympic Games in which she will be involved. Dr. Giles Warrington is our chief physiologist and this will be the second Olympic Games in which he will be involved. Our chief psychologist is Niamh Fitzpatrick and this will be the second Olympic Games in which she will be involved. They are all backed up by a team of excellent doctors, physiotherapists and other professionals in different fields that we have built up over recent years to serve our athletes and our team members. We have to also ensure the maintenance of the health of the coaches, managers and members of the council.
I will move on to the team managers and coaches. Every team must have a manager. Having regard to what I said earlier about the rotation of coaches and the rotation of medical people, the sports can have more coaches on this occasion. The majority of the athletic events will take place in the second week of the Olympics Games and they are a big beneficiary in this respect. The athletics team has a manager and six coaches. Donal O'Halloran is the manager of the badminton team and there is one coach. Jim Walsh is the manager of the boxing team and there are two coaches. Deaglan O'Drisceoil is the manager of the canoeing team and there is one coach. Frank Campbell is the manager of the cycling team and there is a coach and a mechanic. For the equestrian team, Robert Splaine is the manager for show jumping and Ginny Elliott is the manager for the eventing team and there are two coaches and a vet. The coach for fencing is Nuala McGarrity and there is one coach. Other coaches assisting the Irish team are Han Bijnen, Vladimir Nalymov and Harold Yarling. Mike Heskin from Galway is the manager of the rowing team and there are two coaches. James O'Callaghan is the manager of the sailing team and there are three coaches. Kevin Kilty is the manager of the shooting team and there is one coach. Keith Bewley is the manager-coach of the swimming team. Richard Stannard is the manager-coach for the triathlon event.
We have been able in the majority of sports to deliver what they requested of us. This means that the majority of athletes will be backed up by the people they wanted. We are not able to provide everything requested because we are constrained by accreditations for people.
On the management side, we are only bringing four accredited personnel and a chef de mission. I am the chef de mission and that officer holder gets automatic accreditation. My right-hand man is Tom Rafter. Our chief executive officer is Stephen Martin, an Olympic gold medalist, our sport director is Martin Burke and our media officer is Jack McGowran. Bringing these personnel to the Games is all we take for ourselves, everything else goes to support the sports.
I will outline what we have been doing during the past few years. The managers were nominated a long time ago and we had many substantial meetings with them, with the longest being nine and a half hours and the shortest approximately three hours. These meetings were not held regularly but they were important meetings to ensure everybody was kept up to date on all Olympic matters. We have also arranged for them all to have recognisant visits to Beijing. The medical personnel have been to Beijing and examined how athletes will acclimatise and they have provided written documentation on medical acclimatisation and psychological support. That documentation has been issued to all our athletes and support personnel and is currently being reissued. With regard to other support information, we have issued to all those potentially on the team a great deal of information updating them all the way through on all the different aspects of the games. When one goes to the Olympics, one does not own the stadium but is only one of thousands and one needs to know where is one's little place.
From the point of view of logistics, we have to get everybody over to the games and arrange the flights, accommodation and internal transportation. All these arrangements must be made well in advance. With regard to internal transportation, it is fine to have a car in Beijing, but one must be mindful of the traffic jams.
The members have probably seen pictures of the athletes uniform in the newspapers recently. The athletes' parade uniform was designed by John Rocha and sponsored by Penneys. It is a magnificent uniform. Our flagbearer will be seen for the first time in the special flagbearer's outfit on the opening night; members will have to watch the opening ceremony to see the flagbearer's outfit. The performance and leisure clothing has been provided by Asics. It was a major job to make sure all the clothing fitted the athletes. We have a series of measurings and fittings. We took delivery of 112 suits the other day and eight more will arrive on Friday. On that day those suits were delivered, they did not fit in the lift and we had to carry them up the stairs of the Hilton Airport Hotel.
The job of data capture is a major one, given that the amount of information that is required for any games by the organising committee and by the country is substantial. China has requested substantial information, as all countries do. We have one man in the office in charge of all data. It is not an easy job keeping track of everybody. Some Olympic offices throughout the world would have hundreds of people doing this work; we have one great man doing this for us and he is doing a great job.
We have Olympic qualifications and standards agreements. Two and half to three years ago we signed off on these agreements with all the sports so that every athlete, coach and everybody else, be it mothers, fathers, aunts or uncles, would know how one can qualify for the Olympic Games. People can click on to a sports website or our website to get this information. A hard copy of this information is also available in many facilities. In that way everybody knew the qualifying conditions and there could be no arguments about it. That was all signed off on two and half years ago or three years ago, at the maximum, depending on the sport.
Athletes cannot go to the Olympic Games without signing an eligibility form and a member's agreement. It is required to be signed by every athlete throughout the world. All our members are formally signed up for the Olympic Games.
I will outline the assembling of the teams but I will not go into the detail of it. The athletics team will arrive in two tranches. We will take them into the Olympic village, off-load their excess luggage, then they will go to Matsue in Japan and they filter back into the village for their competitions.
The badminton team will be brought to the village and will train in the Olympic facilities. The slalom venue in canoeing is a specialist venue and the canoeing team will be brought to that venue. Members will note from the presentation the date of arrival of the teams.
The boxing team will be the first one to arrive in Beijing and they will arrive before the Olympic village opens. They will stay there three nights, then they will go to Vladivostok and they will return to Olympic village on 6 August for the final run up the games. They will compete in the boxing events on the first day of the games.
There are three cycling disciplines and the events will take place at different times. Many of those involved are professional cyclists who will return home immediately after the conclusion of the events in which they are involved.
The equestrian team is travelling direct to Hong Kong. The three day eventing competition will take place first and will be followed by the show jumping. As members will be aware, all of the horses must spend a considerable period in quarantine.
Our competitor in the fencing competition will be attending a training camp that is being held 40 km from Beijing. The rowers will travel straight to the Olympic village and train at Shunyi. Those involved in the shooting competition will be travelling to the Olympic village following a stopover to compete in an international competition in Singapore. Our sailors will be travelling straight to Qingdao to commence training. Our three swimmers will arrive at the Olympic village at the same time and train at the venues provided there. Our triathletes will travel to Matsue with those involved in athletics to complete final training. They will arrive at the Olympic village on 14 August, having first dropped off their excess luggage, etc., along the way.
That is our team. The challenge for any Olympic team is to perform and that is what its members are judged on. We are proud of those we are taking to the Olympic Games. As Mr. Hickey stated, it is not easy to qualify. Qualification is both a major challenge and a great achievement. We hope all our athletes will perform better than ever before. If this allows them to achieve something with which we would be really happy, that would be fantastic. However, we are not making any promises. I hope those on the team will surprise us, their families and friends and the nation. I also hope we come home happy. I wish all our athletes good luck.
I thank Mr. Henihan for providing information on the athletes and the support team. We hope some of our representatives win medals. Regardless, however, they are all winners. Do any of our other guests wish to contribute before I invite members to do so?
I thank our guests for their presentation which was informative but brief. All I want to do is wish those who will be representing Ireland luck. We are all very excited about the Olympic Games, to which we are looking forward. For the first time in many years I will be in the country for the entire month of August and intend to spend my time watching the games and doing constituency work.
Is Nicholas Roche the son of Stephen Roche?
Mr. Dermot Henihan
Yes.
What is meant by "accreditation"?
Mr. Dermot Henihan
A competitor's accreditation is an identification badge which gives him or her access to various venues, etc.
When representatives of the Irish Sports Council came before the committee, I raised the point that the former Minister, the late Séamus Brennan, had not succeeded in obtaining an increase in the budget for Olympic year. Am I correct in stating everyone who achieves the qualification standard is automatically selected to represent Ireland at the games? The representatives of the Irish Sports Council were managing our expectations and stated that just to qualify was great. They stated that if some of our competitors reached semi-finals, they would be doing well. I do not know whether they were referring specifically to those taking part in athletics. However, they were certainly damping down our expectations.
Ireland has a large equestrian team. Is everyone who achieved the qualifying standard for the equestrian events going to the games? Is it more expensive to send an equestrian team than to send an athletics team?
Who picked the 51 members of Ireland's Olympic Games team? Are our guests responsible in this regard? Why is there such a focus on equestrian events and athletics rather than other disciplines?
Mr. Patrick Hickey
I will answer Deputy Mitchell's questions.
If Mr. Hickey does not object, we will bank the questions and our guests can then reply to all of them. The next speaker on my list is Deputy Cyprian Brady.
On a point of order, at our recent meetings all of the questions posed by members were banked. I am not prepared to allow this to happen in the future because the Minister left our previous meeting having failed to answer two questions I had been requested to ask on someone's behalf. In the future, when I ask a question, I want it to be answered immediately. When questions are banked, some are not answered. It is fine to bank questions today because this is not a contentious matter. However, there will be occasions on which contentious issues will arise and to which we will want Ministers to provide answers. It was only after I had left our previous meeting that I realised the relevant Minister had not answered the questions I had posed. That will not happen in the future because when I ask questions I will insist that they be answered on the spot. I hope questions will be answered immediately from this point on.
On the committees on which I have served, questions from two or three members are usually grouped together.
Yes, perhaps we should group them.
It is unsatisfactory, from everyone's point of view, if the majority of members are obliged to leave a meeting before their questions are answered.
We will group questions. It will be my intention to ensure any Ministers who come before the committee provide answers to the questions posed by every member. It is important that this should be the case. However, our guests are not politicians and I am sure they will answer every question put to them.
The ebb and flow of conversation is lost if one is obliged to wait three hours for an answer.
I have no doubt that if Deputy Ring were a Minister, he would be very professional.
I would answer any question put to me.
The Deputy would be very good at sidestepping. We will group the questions.
I congratulate the Olympic Council of Ireland. The organisation that goes into sending a team to the Olympic Games is similar to what happens at elections. Once one election is over, the campaign for the next starts immediately. The Olympic Council of Ireland has obviously done a great deal of preparatory and organisational work up to now. I wish all our competitors and representatives the very best of luck in Beijing.
I presume the team members' agreement covers competitors' conduct, issues relating to doping, etc. I understand the track and field events will be the most competitive ever held at an Olympic Games. What are the expectations for success on the part of members of the Irish team who will be competing in sports which do not have such a high profile?
I intend to keep my contribution upbeat. I wish our competitors well. I have a keen interest in sport. I participated in many sports and benefited a great deal from the good coaching of which I was able to avail. I wish all the members of the Irish team every success. I am particularly interested in the rowing because many members of my family were involved in the sport.
The uniform that will be worn by our competitors is one of the nicest ever chosen. I was delighted to see it modelled so well in the newspapers in recent days.
I hope the games will be clean and that there will not be any ghastly incidences of doping. I am sure our athletes are clean and hope they will do their utmost to achieve either personal bests or win medals.
The documentation provided by the Olympic Council of Ireland contains details relating to sponsorship. How much money do sponsors provide and for what purpose is such money used? It was stated on a programme on RTE radio yesterday that the shooting of live deer was once an Olympic sport. I am glad that this sport was outlawed.
Competitors train hard, monitor their nutrition and make huge personal sacrifices in order to reach the Olympic Games. Professionalism — I use the word in its best sense — in sport has reached an incredibly high level and competitors must pay a heavy toll in the context of their physical and mental preparation. Their families also suffer by being separated from them. I wish them well and commend them on their hard work in the name of our country.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
I will answer Deputy Mitchell's question as to qualification for the Olympic Games. She referred to the equestrian team and the Irish Sports Council's response to people's expectations. We are ad idem with the sports council on people’s expectations because we do not wish to put pressure on the athletes by talk in the media about medals.
The winning of medals is a big concern for Europe as well as Ireland. China is determined to top the medals table and push the Russians and the Americans aside. European countries with large populations such as France, Germany and Italy, are currently struggling. I also wear a hat as president of the European Olympic Committee. We have called a special meeting to be held in Athens in September which will be a debriefing meeting following the Olympic Games because we believe there will be a decrease in European medal numbers. We must plan for the future.
In answer to Deputy Mitchell, the equestrian team could be much larger. The three-day event team has qualified but we only have one showjumper where we usually send four or five. The standard for qualification is set by the International Olympic Committee which is agreed with the international federation for that sport. Everyone must achieve that standard.
My question was not about how they qualified rather whether, having qualified, they go to the Olympics.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
Yes. I will return to that point when I am dealing with the agreement later in the discussion. Once they achieve the standard they are automatically selected and they go to the games.
So is that the reason there are sometimes more participants in one sport than another, that more qualify in one sport than in another?
Mr. Patrick Hickey
Yes. It is much easier to qualify in some sports than in others. For example, athletics and swimming have an A and a B standard. Boxing is the most brutal sport in terms of qualification. A boxer must win either a European or a world championship in order to qualify. Ireland has five boxers and this is quite extraordinary for a country of our size. It should be borne in mind that traditionally we win more medals in boxing than in any other sport.
In answer to Deputy Brady's question, I thank him for his good wishes. He asked about the members' agreement. The team members must sign an agreement with the International Olympic Committee. I will ask the secretary general to explain this process.
Mr. Dermot Sherlock
Members of the Irish team are expected to conduct themselves well and in particular they must obey the international ruling of WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency. Any person found guilty of a serious doping offence would not be picked for the team. Even if a person was chosen by us, the International Olympic Committee would not allow such a person to participate in the games. From the time the team leaves Ireland to when it returns, members are under the control of the Olympic Council of Ireland. It is not a case of separate teams for the different sports but it is now an Irish Olympic team with members specialising in their particular sport. The agreement is all-embracing and it has been willingly signed by every one of the 51 competitors. We included an extra agreement for this Olympic Games. In order to avoid difficulties, we made separate agreements with each national Olympic federation. This was an agreement undertaken willingly on both sides and it is one of the reasons — if not the main reason — there have not been difficulties and arguments between federations and individual athletes as we approach the games.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
Track and field is an extremely competitive sport and it is more difficult for Europeans to win medals in this sport because the African competitors are so proficient. It is easier to win medals in lower profile sports such as judo, karate, shooting, sailing and canoeing. However, it is still difficult to win medals in these sports.
We have taken a more lenient view of athletics and swimming for these games because we are conscious of the next Olympic Games in London in 2012. We will never have an Olympic Games in Ireland and I wish to make that very clear. Certain people in the country may think we can but that is all hogwash. The nearest we will ever be to having an Olympic Games will be the London games in 2012. This should be regarded as a home games as we are in the same area of the world with the same climatic conditions, same language, very similar culture, etc. We are aware of young athletes who may not win medals or perform too well in Beijing but will be very strong candidates for London. We recently picked two swimmers, Aisling Cooney and Melanie Nocher, who were a fraction off the A standard in swimming but we recognise their great potential for the London games and we are encouraging them.
I thank Deputy White for her good wishes to the team, which are much appreciated. Our chef de mission is a great rowing man, Mr. Dermot Henihan. We are delighted that the Deputy likes the team uniform. We were very fortunate to obtain the free services of John Rocha. Ireland will be on parade and this will be the biggest television show in the world. Mr. Rocha is a top Irish designer but is also recognised internationally as one of the best in the world. This could never have been achieved without the financial support from Penneys who made the uniforms.
I could not agree more with Deputy White regarding her hope for a clean games. When we announced the team last Thursday, I was asked what was my best wish for these games and my answer was to have a clean games. Ireland has been tainted with a history of problems at the Olympic Games and we have a bad international reputation in this area. It is bad enough doping humans but when we start to dope the animals, it gets even worse. We sincerely hope there will be no hint of drug-taking at the Olympic Games.
In answer to the Deputy's question about sponsorship I am not at liberty to divulge the amount because this is a trade secret and it would give the game away. However, I can inform the committee that the money goes directly to the federations and the athletes. We work in close co-operation with the Irish Sports Council to ensure there is no duplication of funding. The sports council does not cater so well for minority sports as it tends to look after the bigger sports. The Olympic Council of Ireland has an obligation for winter sports because we are elected for both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games. The next Winter Olympic Games will be held in Vancouver in 2012 and we hope to have an Irish team of 15 or 16 athletes. They receive almost no support from either the Government or the Irish Sports Council so they must be fully funded by our sponsors. We work hand in hand and ensure there is no duplication.
The information about the shooting of live deer is new to me. I was not aware of it and I am very glad it has stopped.
Mr. Dermot Sherlock
Deputy Mitchell referred to the business of achieving a final standard. It must be remembered that each sport is different. If a boxer gets to the final, he is already a silver medalist and he is therefore boxing for gold. There is only one marathon race and it is therefore both the final and the starting round. The same applies in a heat final in swimming. Each sport is different. To achieve eighth in one sport may in fact be a tremendous performance but this placing would only be in the quarter-final of the particular sport.
I thank the delegation members for attending and I wish all our athletes and horses every success. Today's key statement is that the challenge is performance. One is judged on one's performance.
What is the state of the relationship between the Olympic Council of Ireland and the Irish Sports Council? There was tension in the past. Is there now a good working relationship?
How has the introduction of the high performance system worked? What is the benchmark of high performance, given the qualifications for the forthcoming Olympic Games? I was at the Cork City Sports in the Mardyke last Saturday. I saw some fine Irish performances and Derval O'Rourke was very unlucky not to win.
Mr. Hickey described the 2012 games in London as the home games. I would not share that view. Now that we have opened Croke Park and seen a sea change in that regard, why can the next generation of Irish people not aspire to holding the Olympic Games in Ireland? We should continue to aim for that.
I have not heard anything of pre-Olympic training camps as there were in the past. Mr. Hickey spoke of a worrying decrease in the performance of European athletes in the Beijing games. Am I correct in saying our target for Athens was to win five medals in five major sports? Have we targets for Beijing? Our Olympic boxers deserve immense credit because the qualifying process is very tough. Are we downplaying expectations? We are a country of 4 million and reference has been made to countries such as Finland and Denmark. Our hockey team was very unlucky in New Zealand and, with a bit of luck, might have qualified.
Mr. Hickey said sponsorship was a trade secret. Is the budget for the Olympic Games adequate and why is sponsorship a trade secret? The GAA sponsorship of the hurling and football championships is open and transparent. Why is the same not true for the Olympic Council of Ireland?
I compliment the Irish Olympic team and wish them well in Beijing.
I welcome the delegation. I am delighted to see St. Vincent's CBS, Glasnevin has produced a luminary in Mr. Pat Hickey. I am delighted to see Mr. Tom Rafter, one of my own constituents. I had not realised he was so well up in the Olympic Council of Ireland. If bag carriers are required for Beijing I am sure some members of the committee would volunteer.
I commend the representatives of the OCI on their volunteerism. I know many of them have been involved in the Olympic movement for many decades. At a time when so much sport is professional, with all sorts of paid people involved, it is a tribute to them that they work without payment. I commend them on that. I wish all the competitors every success, particularly my own constituent, Ciara Peelo. I hope she performs to her best.
Everyone shares the aspiration that all of our participants will be drug free. One or two incidents did not do the country any good. Drugs is a worldwide issue. Irish sports people have always been very fair. Achievement in sport should come from one's own ability and not with the help of drugs.
One of our Olympic athletes was born in England. How did she qualify to represent Ireland? When athletes complete their Olympic events do they remain with the entire group or do they return home? Mr. Hickey referred to London 2012. This will be a major opportunity to promote Ireland as a tourism and training destination. As Mr. Hickey has said, our weather conditions are similar to London. This will be a major opportunity. Is the OCI working with Tourism Ireland to promote this aspect of the London Olympics?
Mr. Patrick Hickey
I hope I can give value for money, as Deputy Ring requested. I thank Senator Buttimer for his good wishes. He asked about our relationship with the Irish Sports Council. We have an excellent functional working relationship. We do not always agree on everything. This is a healthy situation because when everyone agrees on everything things tend not to be done. I will ask our chef de mission to explain how the Olympic performance committee works. It is joint group between ourselves and the Irish Sports Council.
Mr. Dermot Henihan
We have an Olympic performance committee consisting of three or four members from the Olympic Council of Ireland and three or four from the Irish Sports Council. We meet four or five times a year to discuss all aspects of the development of the team. We do not discuss high performance, as such. The high performance unit reports to us but we do not have an involvement in what it does. We have a good working relationship. Like any committee, we have our quiet moments and our more aggressive moments. That is how it should be and we work away together.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
We should maintain the aspiration of holding the Olympic Games in Ireland. However, one must be realistic. The Olympic Games is the equivalent of 26 soccer world cups taking place in the same city in a ten day period. I am on the commission of the international Olympic committee which examines how Olympic cities operate and function. The Athens Olympics almost bankrupted the Greek nation. It is now accepted that a city could not host the games unless the country has a minimum population of 12 million. That is not to say a city cannot apply for the games. Has the Senator ever attended an Olympic Games?
I was in Atlanta.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
In that case, he got a good insight into the matter. From our experience, it would not be possible for Ireland to host the Olympic Games. We do not have training facilities. Our athletes are training all over the world. We do not have stadiums. We have Croke Park and we will have Lansdowne Road but we would need approximately 48 more stadiums the same size as Croke Park. We have a 50 metre swimming pool in Abbotstown. We would need another five such pools for an Olympic Games. We must be realistic. We are aware of the economic situation in the country at the moment. We are heading into a recession. We are trying to fix the M50. We are trying to do many other things. We want to dampen down any speculation about Ireland ever applying to host the Olympic Games. I will give a simple example. About six years ago, we applied to bring the European Youth Olympic Games, which is a much smaller event than the Olympic Games, to Ireland. Some 50 European countries participate in the games, which involve approximately 2,500 athletes competing in 15 sports. We considered proposing Limerick as the host venue because it has a lovely university campus, etc. When we examined the figures, tried to get the financial guarantees that were needed and attempted to get the local authority, the university and the Government to work together, we had to walk away because it was impossible to do what needed to be done. If we cannot even host the European Youth Olympic Games, it is clear that we could not host the big games.
My colleague, Mr. Henihan, spoke about training camps in his opening address. I ask him to explain the role of the camps in greater detail.
Mr. Dermot Henihan
Some of the sports were grouped before the Sydney and Athens games. On 3 January 2006, we met representatives of the national governing bodies of all the sports in which athletes were likely to qualify for the games. As China presents different geographical challenges, it was agreed that it would not be practical to combine the training camps of all the sports in advance of the Beijing games. We worked together to come up with an approach to the matter. We based our endeavours on the principle that we needed to control how entry to the games would work in the last three or four weeks before the games. That is proving to be the best way to oversee how one gets into the games. It is not that we did not want to have joint training camps - it is that such camps were not practical.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
I thank the members of the committee for giving credit to the Irish boxers who have qualified for the Olympic Games. The council is conscious that Ireland has won more Olympic medals in boxing than in any other sport. While we are not downplaying expectations, we are not playing them up either. Athletes face significant pressure when major international events are taking place. The media sometimes describes Irish performances in a less than kind manner. One has to understand that our athletes are not like professional footballers who earn €15,000 a week. Our kids are amateurs who train day and night. They have put everything into an eight-year programme to achieve qualification for the Olympic Games. They are proud to represent their country. When they are in a faraway land, it is terrible to see them hurt by a media that is prepared to savage them for their bad performances. We are trying to manage expectations, in the interests of being fair to the athletes.
I agree thoroughly with Senator Buttimer's comments about the Irish hockey team. The Olympic Council of Ireland invested a significant amount of money in the hockey team. We thought the team would make it. We would have loved it if it had. If one brings such a team to compete in a team event at the Olympics, it is a great boost for everyone else. It has a magical influence on the rest of the Olympic team.
The identity of our sponsors is not a trade secret. The Olympic Council of Ireland has to produce audited accounts each year. I am proud that the council is the only independent sports organisation in receipt of Government money to have been checked and controlled by the Comptroller and Auditor General. That happened six years ago. The council's management of the State money it receives was approved with flying colours.
I was asked about the Olympic Council of Ireland's relationship with the Irish Sports Council and the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. We have had a superb relationship with successive sports Ministers. We have worked with three Ministers in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, which is unusual. The Ceann Comhairle, Deputy O'Donoghue, who was Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism at the start of the current quadrennium, was a great friend to the Olympic Council of Ireland. We are grateful to him for helping us to start to develop our wonderful premises in Howth, County Dublin. He was succeeded as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism by the late Séamus Brennan, God rest him. While Séamus Brennan was unable to be with us very much, he was superb to us during his short period as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. We also have a superb working relationship with the current Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy Cullen, and everyone in his Department. I went to school with Deputy Kennedy at St. Vincent's CBS in Glasnevin.
Mr. Hickey was blessed.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
We were in the same class for a while. We have not seen each other for many years. I thank Deputy Kennedy for his good wishes. I am happy that he mentioned volunteerism. I spoke on that subject at the annual general meeting of the Olympic Council of Ireland last Friday night. Irish sport is kept alive by volunteers. It would be a dead duck without the work of volunteers. The idea that one is not professional if one is not being paid, which is a load of hogwash, has become quite popular over recent times. We have all taken time off our employment to attend this afternoon's meeting. The chef de mission, Mr. Dermot Henihan, travelled from Limerick to be here. He is not being paid to do so. We are happy that volunteers bring great resources and skills to the Olympic movement from their own areas of employment.
I thank Deputy Kennedy for extending his good wishes to the Irish team. I have already spoken about the issue of drugs. The committee knows where we stand in that regard. The Deputy also asked about the English-born athlete in the Irish team. The council is proud that, like the Irish rugby team, it represents the island of Ireland. Ireland is unusual, in Olympic terms. The council is not the Olympic committee of the Republic of Ireland - it is the Olympic Council of Ireland. We have responsibility for the North of Ireland. We can thank my predecessor, Lord Killanin, for that. It is clear from the list of members of the Irish team that a significant percentage of them come from Northern Ireland. The great thing about it is that 25% of the Irish Olympic team came from Northern Ireland, from all shades of opinion on both sides of the divide, during the worst days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The best manifestation of that was when Ireland won gold and silver medals in boxing in Barcelona in 1992. The silver medal was won by Mr. Wayne McCullough, from the Protestant heartland of Belfast, and the gold medal was won by Mr. Michael Carruth, from the Catholic heartland of Dublin. They lived together in the Olympic village for five weeks. That proves what sport is all about.
The woman in question was born in England. How does she qualify to compete for Ireland? I am just curious.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
It is very simple. I will let Mr. Sherlock explain.
Mr. Dermot Sherlock
If someone is entitled to an Irish passport and is in possession of that passport, he or she can qualify to compete for Ireland as long as he or she has not competed for some other country in a previous Olympic Games. If he or she had competed for another country previously, we might allow him or her to compete for Ireland.
It depends on whether one has an Irish passport.
Mr. Dermot Sherlock
The Irish passport is used as the measurement.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
As people from Northern Ireland can choose whether to have an Irish or a British passport, athletes from that part of the world can choose whether to compete for Ireland or Britain. I ask the chef de mission, Mr. Henihan, to explain what happens athletes after they have competed in their respective events.
Mr. Dermot Henihan
Some of them go home. They are all entitled to stay until the end. The final flights out of Beijing are on 26 August. Some athletes have asked to fly home early. They are allowed to stay in the Olympic village until the end of the Olympic Games. I can inform Deputy Kennedy that a number of members of the Irish Olympic team were not born in Ireland. Although they were born in various parts of the world, they are entitled to an Irish passport. If they have an Irish passport, they are eligible to compete for Ireland at the Olympic Games.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
The Olympic example is being used at the moment by the FAI, which is having a problem with FIFA regarding certain athletes who were born in Northern Ireland and therefore qualify to play for the Republic of Ireland if they wish. FIFA has ruled that such players cannot play for the Republic of Ireland because they live in the United Kingdom. It is an ongoing problem. It looks like it will be resolved.
We expect that the 2012 Olympic Games in London will have a great effect on the economy of this country. Many tourists will come to Ireland after the games are over. Visitors to the Olympic Games tend to travel for a week or ten days before or after they have seen the event in which they are interested. When Deputy O'Donoghue was Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, he established a committee to attract such business to Ireland. The committee continues to function. One of the economic effects on Ireland of the decision to award the 2012 games to London is that Irish builders, contractors and computer operators are successfully vying for business in London. Some of this country's biggest property developers are doing amazing work in London. It will get bigger and bigger.
I am fortunate to be a member of the board of the new Irish Institute of Sport at Abbotstown. I sincerely hope that is not affected by the cutbacks we all have to face. On the back of the 2012 games one thing that can be left as a legacy for sport in Ireland is a central institute where all Irish athletes can practise their sport so that never again will they have to travel to foreign fields. That is what we should strive for on the back of the London games. I appeal to all parties to support the finalisation of Abbotstown. It is a great project and it is great for sport.
Mr. Dermot Henihan
Questions were asked about qualification. It is great to put all the names of those who have qualified on the board. Philip Murphy who competes in Olympic trap shooting is the current world silver medalist but he did not qualify for the games. Hannah Craig who competes in slalom canoeing missed out on qualification by one second. We had to wait for the Mayo man, David O'Loughlin, to get his place for the Olympics despite the fact that he reached sixth place in the world this year. Many others missed out by fractions. I would love to have all their names up on the screen because there are many athletes who really tried to get to the Olympics but who did not make it.
I will be brief as I have very few questions to ask. Like Deputy White, I raised the matter with the Minister the other day. The Chairman might not like what I will say. In recent Olympics it has been disgusting to see the amount of athletes and other competitors from this country who won gold and other medals and who had to give them back months later when it was discovered that they were taking drugs. Like Deputy White, I hope that this will be a clean Olympics. It is bad enough having our own athletes trying to compete with people who are professional in every sense of the word and who are getting paid. Some of our athletes are trying to hold down jobs while others might be lucky enough to earn enough from their sporting endeavours but there are few enough of them. It is a disadvantage to our athletes to be from a small country. I hope the Olympics will be clean.
I always remember the day I went to Belmullet during the 2004 Olympics. I do not wish to name names but I refer to the only medal we won in those Olympics. I was attending a very sad funeral. However, one could see everybody tuning in to their radios to hear the final round. Everybody was delighted and the country got a lift. What happened a few months later was disappointing.
I am not a supporter of the Olympics because I am disgusted by what recently emerged in America when an individual was spilling all before the courts in order to improve his chances of competing in the next Olympics. That kind of stuff is going on in sport. I admire sportspeople who win by fair means and those who compete fairly but do not win rather than those who are drugged up to the teeth. I was delighted to hear the presentation by the Minister who outlined the new code of practice in Europe on testing for doping. The more of that we have, the better. Perhaps there should be a medal for Olympic athletes who con people by taking drugs without being caught. They are destroying sports that we all love and believe in. It does not matter what is the sport - golf, rowing, soccer, Gaelic games, rugby - all I wish is for people to compete fairly.
I wish our team the very best of luck. I hope the games go well for them. It is important that they compete and it would be nice if they win medals but that is not necessary. All we ask is that they represent themselves and the country to the best of their ability on the day. I hope that whatever resources were needed were made available to ensure our competitors can take part. Do the athletes have what they require? Were they given the training and financial support they sought two years ago or is more financial support needed from the State? We have to compete against America, Russia and other countries that have athletes training on a full-time basis while our athletes operate on a part-time basis. I hope they have the necessary resources.
How many athletes in total are going to the Olympics and how many people are included in the support team? I wish them well and I hope their efforts are good for the country regardless of the sport in which they compete. Once they represent Ireland we will support them. We hope it goes well and that they do themselves, their families and the country proud.
Reference was made to David O'Loughlin. I know him and his family. I saw him many Saturday and Sunday mornings on the hills in Connemara and in Tourmakeady in Mayo. His family is very involved in cycling. In his area hundreds of people — some of them on a competitive basis — go out every Sunday morning. It is wonderful to see so many people being active. He is the person who created that kind of climate. It is great to see him going from Cong in south Mayo to the Olympics. As a Mayo man I wish him well. I acknowledge his commitment and effort and that of his family. To get to the Olympics has always been his wish and his goal. I hope he and all the other competitors do well in the Olympics.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
We are of the same opinion as Deputy Ring on drugs. Our wish is to have a clean games. Nobody was more disappointed than the OCI after the wonder of the gold medal in Athens and then to find out weeks later when we were back home that it was tainted and destroyed. That was an absolute disaster.
I can give Deputy Ring good news on the drugs scene. The World Anti-Doping Agency to which Mr. Henihan referred earlier is working extremely effectively. It is way ahead of the posse and it is weeding out the cheats. However, we must be realistic. People will always take a chance. It is like trying to get rid of crime from society. We will never achieve that. As we speak, an athlete in the United Kingdom is going to the High Court to try to force the Olympic committee of Great Britain to send him to the Olympics. He is a well known drug cheat and abuser. The other athletes have signed a document to say he should not be on the team. We agree with Deputy Ring but we all have to comply with the civil law also. We thank him for his good wishes for the team.
Deputy Ring also referred to resources. The answer is "Yes", the Government and previous Governments have upped their spend greatly into this area. To be honest when I said we have a great working relationship with the Irish Sports Council, we do not always agree on how that money is spent. The OCI is a great believer in coaching. We have been saying that for years. Senator Buttimer touched on it in one of his questions. One can fund athletes all one likes but if they do not have proper coaching the money is being wasted. Sometimes we get our way but at other times we do not. We do not control that money pot. My own sport was judo. We will never win a medal in judo because we either have to bring in the top Japanese or French coaches to live and train in Ireland or we have to send our athletes to Japan to live. Coaching is the key.
As to how many athletes and technical personnel, including coaches, managers, etc., will travel to the Olympics, the figure has been given already but I will ask Mr. Henihan to repeat it. Separate to that he indicated how many are travelling from the OCI.
Mr. Dermot Henihan
The simple breakdown is that 51 athletes and 50 support personnel are going. I wish to explain that because the big beneficiaries are the small sports and athletics. As I explained earlier, we can take some people out and put other people in. The breakdown is five people from the Olympic Council of Ireland; ten medical personnel, but there will be only six in the village at any given time; 12 managers for 12 sports; and 27 coaches. I include in the latter figure the bicycle mechanic. Badminton, fencing and canoeing all happen early in the games. They all have professional coaches. Jim Laugesen from Denmark is the badminton coach. Han Bijnen from Holland is the canoeing coach and Vladimir Nazlymov from Russia is the fencing coach. We can bring those coaches in and the minute they finish their job they are out. That is how we are able to bring in extra coaches.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
The council does not select the coaches and technical advisers. Each individual sports federation selects them because they know what is best for the athlete. We are limited by the number of accreditations allowed. Every athlete wants his or her own personal coach but that is not possible because it would mean 1 million people competing in the Olympic games.
I concur with the comments on the commitment of the cyclist, David O'Loughlin, from County Mayo. Members live in the political world but we also live in a sports political world. His position looked very dodgy for a long time. Enormous influence was brought to bear on the International Cycling Federation by me, as president of the European Olympic committees. As luck would have it, another Irishman was president of the International Cycling Federation, Pat McQuaid. Ireland was to the fore in the politics of this issue. There were another four contenders with David O'Loughlin to get that slot. He fully deserves it and he is a great athlete and representative of Ireland.
I thank the representatives who have given the committee an interesting overview of our Olympic preparations. On behalf of all members - some could not attend today - I wish the 51 participants and support teams all the best in Beijing. They are all winners and we should be very proud of them, irrespective of their outcomes in Beijing.
Members
Hear, hear.
It is also interesting to note they are representing the island of Ireland. It is not as difficult now after the Good Friday Agreement but for years those involved in the Olympics came from all parts of the country, including Donegal. There are two participants from County Donegal in these Olympics, Chloe Magee and Philip Deignan.
The delegation has explained the 2012 Olympics clearly and that Ireland may never hold the Olympic Games. However, I hope the council will suggest to its international colleagues that while they are participating in the Olympics in London, Ireland is open for business for advance training. I am sure the Department and the council would be delighted to entice athletes to Ireland.
The number of Olympic athletes - 51, as compared with 23 from Denmark and 35 from Finland - shows Ireland is boxing above its weight. It is a great tribute to all our athletes and the state of sport. The important role of sponsors should also be acknowledged. I hope they will benefit from it.
Mar focal scoir, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl dos na toscaireachtaí as ucht teacht isteach anseo inniu. Guím gach rath Dé orthu siúd atá ag dul go dtí Beijing chun páirt a ghlacadh sna Cluichí Oilimpeacha. Is iad na Cluichí Oilimpeacha an ócáid spóirt is mó sa domhain do gach éinne a ghlacann páirt iontu. Tá sé sin fíor nuair a smaoinímid go mbeidh níos mó daoine ann ná mar a bheadh ag 26 comórtais Corn an Domhain. Cuireann sé sin an eachtra in ord dúinn.
Mr. Patrick Hickey
I thank the committee secretariat who made the organisation of the meeting very pleasant. One theme that came across from all members was the good wishes for the team. They are very much appreciated and will be conveyed to the team by the chef de mission. We are all worried about the economic situation but we have a great summer to look forward to with the GAA championship finals and the Olympic Games.
The joint committee adjourned at 4.25 p.m. sine die.