It has been a frenetic seven days for both the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) and many of the athletes who competed at the Olympic games in Sydney.

The OCI yesterday met with Jim McDaid, Minister for Tourism Sport and Recreation, as part of a post-Olympic submission designed to look back at Sydney and forward to Athens, after what was perceived by both bodies as an Irish under-performance at the games.

The meeting was also seen as an opportunity for the OCI and Mr McDaid to patch up their differences and move closer together after an Olympics which witnessed a very public and unseemly dispute between the two organisations, culminating in Mr McDaid having to drop one of the official party from his Australian trip because the OCI could not provide enough tickets for his entire party to gain entry to the Olympic stadium.

Last week, the OCI also announced the setting up of an athlete's body which will be formed later this month at a meeting in Trinity College Dublin while a meeting on Saturday could see the Sydney athletes set up an organisation of their own with similar functions to that of the OCI.

The meeting in Citywest Hotel, Dublin hopes to form an independent body which will represent purely the views of athletes.

Amongst a number of issues the OCI proposed to raise with the minister last night is a review of the Sports Council's carding scheme with a view to making it more flexible and more athlete friendly, something the athlete's themselves have been complaining about for over a year.

They will also push the minister for greater funding for the Winter Olympics, World Youth Olympics and the European Youth Olympics.

The OCI also proposed to make a case for a major review of Ireland's coaching situation. On the agenda is a "fast track" option to include world class coaching expertise to be brought in from abroad or Irish athletes to be sent abroad.

According to Pat Hickey the OCI would be "going into this important meeting on an optimistic footing".