Swim Ireland on road to funds restoration after appointment

THE appointment in the High Court yesterday of Sarah Keane as CEO of Swim Ireland looks like the first step towards the organisation having its funding restored by the Irish Sports Council.

The court decision was welcomed last night by various parties - not least Sports Council Chief Executive John Treacy - as the beginning of a new era for the sport in this country.

But, it emerged last night in a secret internal report on the organisation, that it had accrued fees in the region of €65,000 as a result of the non-appointment of a CEO.

The report, compiled by Deloitte & Touche at the behest of the Sport Council, asserted that the non-appointment of a CEO had been “a major stumbling block to progress” within Swim Ireland and the row over the CEO’s appointment had resulted from the deratification process whereby the old governing body, the IASA, had gestated into the current NGB (national governing body) Swim Ireland.

“Swim Ireland needs dynamic and energetic executives to push forward its agenda.

“The appointment of the CEO process started approximately 13 months ago. Costs, excluding legal fees, in the region of €65,000 have accrued to date arising from the non-appointment,” the report says.

However, with that process completed as a result of yesterday’s High Court decision, all parties involved are now working towards getting the organisation back on its feet and also seeing a restoration of its Sports Council funding which was withdrawn last week.

Sports Council chief, John Treacy, said he welcomed the appointment and he looked forward to working with Ms Keane towards the restoration of the funding.

“I cannot say too much right now because I’ve just heard the news,” Treacy said, “but there is now a road forward and we can work with Swim Ireland to see funding reinstated.”

A spokesperson for Swim Ireland said that there would be a board meeting in Galway early next month at which all issues would be fully discussed and it was hoped that shortly after the meting, that swimming’s NGB would then sit down with the Sports Council in an endeavour to have funding restored.

It is no secret that the Council had become increasingly frustrated by in-fighting within Swim Ireland and last week it acted in a manner which reflected that frustration.

Now, however, there is room to manoeuvre on both sides and it looks certain that a resolution will be found.

This is an Olympic year, after all, and several Irish swimmers are heavily involved in preparations for the Athens games, but the Olympic Council of Ireland said last night that the elite swimmers had not been affected by the row as their training regimes were still being funded.

“I’m delighted that things now look like they are being sorted out at Swim Ireland,” a spokesman said.