THE ROLE of the Olympic Council of Ireland as the conduit for State funding in sport, was terminated yesterday in talks between the Minister for Sport, Bernard Allen and OCI officials.
An Olympic Council delegation, made up of Pat Hickey, Dermot Sherlock and Louis Kilcoyne, was told that in future, grant aid for international competitions and elite sports persons, will be paid directly to the national governing bodies and not, as heretofore, through the OCI.
The effect of the change, foreshadowed in the National Plan for Sport published earlier this year, will be to divest the Olympic Council of one of its most jealously guarded powers.
For some, it's the inevitable sequel to the OCI's infamous press conference during the Olympic Games in Atlanta when Hickey was criticised for airing domestic problems before an international audience.
After that conference, the Minister said that he was appalled by much of what he'd heard and warned that not a penny of State money, would be made available to fund threatened litigation among the warring factions.
Mr Allen, who was accompanied at yesterday's talks by John Treacy, chairman of the Irish Sports Council, said that he believed the change was in the best interest of sport, both from the administrative and competitive viewpoints.
He stressed that the recommendations contained in the National Plan for Sport were based on more than 300 submissions from interested groups and individuals.
"There was a perceived need to streamline the system and ensure that the process of distributing grant aid, was as speedy and efficient as possible," he said.
"Before the Strategy Group published their national plan, I promised that I would study it in detail and take on board the feelings of the wider sporting community. This is the first manifestation of my determination to deliver on that promise.
"Our aim is, as it's always been, to lessen the financial burden on those individuals and organisations who must make big sacrifices, to ensure that the image of the country continues to improve through our sporting achievements, nationally and internationally."
Generally, there was a favourable reaction to yesterday's announcement with vociferous backing coming from BLE who have long been among the Olympic Council's most trenchant critics.
"The change is in line with the feelings expressed by John Treacy and his committee and we believe that it will expedite the process of getting funding for those most in need of it," said a BLE spokesman.
Predictably, the feeling within the OCI is one of betrayal. They point to the fact that under the old system, Ireland has won four gold medals in the last two Olympic Games, quite the most successful period in the history of the Olympics in this country.
"People have been looking at our system and wanting to know more about it, in view of our recent successes," said an OCI official. "It defies logic that we should now go and break up a winning formula."
He added that in spite of yesterday's moves, the OCI would still fill an influential role in Irish sport. The council, he said, had always prided itself on generating some of its own funding to help Irish sports people and they would, of course, continue to exercise the ultimate responsibility of nominating Irish athletes to compete in the Olympic Games.
