Winners and losers in grants appeals

SONIA O’SULLIVAN’S Sports Council grant has been reinstated but the International Carding Scheme Appeals Committee have virtually retired a whole generation of Irish athletics by refusing their appeals, according to a leading athletics figure.

Newly-crowned European indoor 3,000m champion, Alistair Cragg, submitted a late application and gets a pro rata World Class 1 grant of €14,320.

But only 10 of the 38 appeals were granted by the committee comprised of Maurice Ahern, a member of the Irish Sports Council, Bobby Begley, a former President of BLE which preceded the AAI as the governing body for Irish athletics, and Sean McCague, a former president of the GAA.

And only two of those were subjected to the now notorious five year rule which would have appear to have ended the international careers of several top athletes.

O’Sullivan and world-class wheelchair athlete Patrice Dockery were the two who had their grants restored. The former gets €22,500 while Miss Dockery gets €11,500, having demonstrated significant performances in 2005, according to the committee.

In five more appeals special cases were made for Kilkenny hammer thrower, Eileen O’Keeffe, who gets €11,500, cyclist Jamie Popham who receives €4,600 and badminton star, Scott Evans who gets €11,500.

Others deemed to have achieved the criteria were also rewarded. Sprinter Anna Boyle gets €4,600, canoeist Helen Barnes €11,500, Triathletes Heather Wilson and Caroline Kearney €4,600 each and swimmer Barry Murphy also €4,600.

However, there has been no reprieve for James Nolan, Karen Shinkins, Gareth Turnbull and Peter Coghlan.

“As regards James (Nolan) this will virtually end his international career,” his former coach Brendan Hackett insisted. “This was his only source of income. He is training in South Africa at the present time but he went there not just to train but because he can live there for six months for the same money it would cost him to live in Dublin for one month.

“When you look at it they have retired a whole generation of athletes who have served the country well at international level over the years and they are athletes who still have quite a bit to offer.

“As an 800m/1,500m runner he does not have the same earning potential on the roads as the likes of Sonia or Mark Carroll would have. He will have to go out and get a job and, as you know, it is not possible to compete at international level those days unless you are a full-time athlete.

“Gareth Turnbull is another victim of the system. He, too, is a double European medallist and a medallist at the World Student Games. But, like James Nolan, he was injured at a critical period and, as a result he now loses his grant.

“This is very short-sighted on the part of the Irish Sports Council and it sends out a very negative message to young athletes who are coming through and cannot run as fast as James or Gareth. It would appear that unless you can produce A standard times or make it into the top 16 in the world you don’t get support.”

He pointed out that Nolan, unlike other world-class athletes, had elected to stay in Ireland and pursue his career from a home base. He was lucky to get support under the UCD scholarship scheme.

“You get support under the development scheme up to 23 but then age 23-25 you don’t get anything and that is a very crucial time in the career of an athlete,” said Hackett.

“They have retired a generation of athletes and leaves Irish athletics with a problem. Who’s going to represent Ireland in the Europa Cup. It’s like retiring a lot of people from a senior inter-county team and replacing them with minors. It just does not work.”