Sports bodies grilled in Oireachtas over handling of elite rowers' welfare issues
Patrick O’Donovan (pictured) among others has proposed an independent review of the safeguarding process, procedures and timelines relating to the rowing issue. Pic: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho
Ireland’s ability to provide fit-for-purpose welfare safeguards for its top athletes has been called into serious question at an Oireachtas committee meeting held on Wednesday in Kildare Street.
Administrators from Rowing Ireland (RI), Sport Ireland (SI) and the Federation of Irish Sport were on hand in government buildings to appear before the Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.
The gathering had been called to address what has been described as a toxic culture in rowing’s high-performance system, and on the back of claims made in the Sunday Independent by a number of athletes.
It began with committee chair, Labour TD Alan Kelly, labelling it a “quite extraordinary meeting before it started” due to the volume of unsolicited correspondence he and other members had received from RI.
Mr Kelly explained that he, vice-chair Evanne Ní Chuilinn, and the clerk of the committee had all been contacted by Rowing Ireland CEO Michelle Carpenter either the night before or the morning of the meeting.
Ms Ní Chuilinn stated that Ms Carpenter “was seeking what I can only describe as my confidence and support in relation to this hearing” while the body’s opening statement was only presented shortly before the session started.
“Unprecedented,” said Mr Kelly of the volume of pre-meeting issues.
Solicitors acting on behalf of RI made contact on the morning of the meeting to explain that Ms Carpenter would not be attending. Barry McWilliams, chair of Rowing Ireland’s board, explained how all recent official correspondence had come through him or the legal channel.
Mr McWilliams also told the meeting that the absent CEO is “unwell”. Another unavailable was Dominic Casey, former lightweight coach and current high-performance lead, which meant there was nobody representing the body who was in position during the period in question.
Antonio Maurogiovanni, RI’s high-performance director between 2017 and 2024, has since moved on to assume a similar role with the French team. Niall O’Carroll, appointed as his successor in September of last year, was among those present in Dublin.
Mr McWilliams expressed his confidence that changes have now been made to the system. Jane Williams, president of RI, claimed the culture was “not toxic” and added that “athletes and clubs don’t recognise” the picture being presented in recent articles.
Repeated calls by committee members for RI and SI to issue an apology to the athletes affected were met with statements of regret, or referrals to previous responses with Mr McWilliams stressing that they were “very much not in denial”.
RI were more forthcoming on current matters. Ms Williams explained that a new independent system for reporting issues, populated by independent people, was being introduced to address concerns within the high-performance programme.
Ms Ní Chuilinn expressed her opposition to RI being any way involved in this. She was backed emphatically in that by Mr Kelly, who put on record his grave concerns for how both they and SI had dealt with this matter between 2021 and 2024.
Athletes in rowing’s high-performance system first put concerns about Maurogiovanni on record within months of his appointment eight years ago. In March of 2021, a clinical psychologist made Sport Ireland aware of welfare concerns in the rowing programme.
An athlete’s charter, due to be implemented after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, was not followed through, Sport Ireland fielded a first official complaint in 2023, and RI’s high-performance funding was officially stopped in July of the following year.
Dr Una May, CEO of SI, said that they had engaged throughout within a strict legislative framework on the matter, stressed that they don’t have investigative powers, but added that the body would be open to an extension of their remit going forward.
Dr May also stated that she had “qualified confidence” in Carpenter in her role as RI CEO, but her own body was under its own microscope with Mr Kelly telling her that he has “real concerns with Sport Ireland now, your mandate and your organisation.” He added that he was “not buying” the remit issue and that there were “enough flags raised” for an intervention to be made before funding was eventually cut off for a period in mid-2024. “This is concerning,” he said.
Paul McDermott, Director for High Performance and National Governing Bodies with Sport Ireland, said the body did not in general wish to “weaponize” the threat of funding being withheld and added his belief that this systemic situation has been unique to rowing.
There are, he explained, issues that arise from time to time within other high-performance programmes.
Sport minister Patrick O’Donovan, as well as minister for state Charlie McConalogue, have proposed an independent review of the safeguarding process, procedures and timelines relating to the rowing issue.
“Such a review could also consider how the Irish sports system response to issues such as this can be strengthened,” a statement from the Department of Sport read on the back of the committee meeting.
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