Committee must steer ‘2012 Olympic roadmap’

THE Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism has been advised to establish a steering committee “to co-ordinate and manage the 2012 Olympic Roadmap.”

Speaking yesterday at the launch of the eighth report of the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Chairwoman, Cecilia Keaveney TD, said it was her aspiration that future Irish international sporting participation “be not only successful but untarnished and scandal free.”

Deputy Keaveney said the report, entitled “Ireland and the Olympics - from Athens to London”, examined in detail the issues of Olympic participation and the value of a “sport for all” policy.

“When my committee started taking evidence, the fiasco in Athens, perhaps an Irish Greek tragedy, was fresh in our minds. Positive dope tests, claims and counter-claims, very public internecine disagreements were all flying through the air,” she said.

With this in mind, the committee had come up with a total of 19 recommendations, prime among which was that the department responsible for sport manage the 2012 Olympic roadmap.

“It is our view that there is a need to centralise the Olympic effort and keep the various partners working in tandem. If this requires legislative change, so be it,” she said.

“The Joint Committee also puts forward the proposal for an Irish Institute of Sport as a key priority recommendation. We have to get the science right. Other significant points are the streamlining of financial assistance to athletes, as well as the extension of the carding system to coaches and the early identification of potential talent.”

Deputy Keaveney said the committee also fully supports the “sport for all” concept, which had added importance with the revelations about obesity and lack of fitness among children.

She added that the report was being forwarded to Sport Minister John O’Donoghue and they would be meeting with him in the near future to discuss the early implementation of the recommendations.