The Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) will meet this weekend to formulate a reaction to the Murphy report on child sexual abuse in the sport. The 13-member executive committee, now reduced to 11 as two places are vacant, will meet on Sunday to study the 107 recommendations contained in the 161page report. The committee will then put a package of measures together, incorporating the Murphy report's recommendations, and submit it to the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid. The Minister will then decide whether the package is acceptable.
The executive committee's proposals will then be put to the affiliated clubs of the IASA at an e.g.m. The clubs have 10,290 members, of whom 6,900 are under 18 years.
The clubs will then have time to consider the proposals put forward by the committee, probably about two weeks, and will report back.
The Minister's office has the IASA no deadline, but it is in the association's interests to return with its proposals as quickly as possible as public funding for it will not be restored until the Minister is satisfied with its response to the report.
"He [Dr McDaid] has to have confidence in their ability to discharge the responsibilities they are taking on," said a Government spokesman yesterday.
The executive committee comprises the president, Ms Mary O'Malley, past president Mr Don Barry, and four directors, Mr Don Mahon, Ms Alice McKibbin, Mr Rody McRandal and Mr George Smith. The honorary secretary, Ms Pat Donovan, and the treasurer, Mr Wally Clark, along with three branch representatives, Ms Betty Beaty (Ulster), Mr Richard Byrne (Leinster) and Mr Ronnie Ball (Connacht), make up the rest of the group.
"I will need to go through the report two or three times to study it in detail," said Ms O'Malley. "But any recommendation given regarding children will be put into operation immediately. That is our primary concern.
"At the IASA meeting on Sunday and Leinster Branch meeting on Monday it will be discussed, and then we will get the clubs together. We will go through the report on those two days."
Until the Murphy recommendations are discussed the IASA does not know exactly what it is going to do. There is also the feeling that many members will want to study the report in depth themselves before committing themselves to any long-term plan.
Meanwhile, Mr John Treacy, chief executive of the Irish Sports Council, said what happened in swimming would impact on other Irish sporting bodies. "All sporting bodies will have to react to this. It will have an impact on all sporting organisations, not just swimming."
