Olympic ticketing crisis: Answers please

CONSIDERING that Sports Minister Shane Ross spent much of his former journalistic career demanding answers, perhaps he would be good enough to provide an explanation for what is going on in Rio in relation to the so-called ticket-tout scandal.

Having what he termed a ‘spat’ with the Olympic Council of Ireland about the controversy is hardly going to expedite matters. The OCI says it has acted properly at all times in dealing with its ticket allocation.

It now transpires that Kevin Mallon, the Irishman arrested and thrown in jail in a ‘sting’ operation by Brazilian police, may be innocent, at least in relation to the tickets allocated to the OCI. Pro10 Sports Management, the authorised ticket reseller for Ireland, says Mallon, an executive for sports hospitality company THG, was holding the tickets on their behalf.

Pro10 is demanding an immediate public apology from the organisers of the Rio Olympic Games for seizing its tickets.

We need answers, minister. A little less bombast and a little more probing should do the trick.