Swimming abuse victims demand new terms of reference for inquiry

Sex abuse victims of swimming coaches Derry O'Rourke and George Gibney have demanded improved terms of reference if they are to co-operate with the independent inquiry set up by the Government.

The inquiry into child sex abuse in swimming, which is being conducted in private by Dr Roderick Murphy SC, began its work yesterday.

But a solicitor representing some of the victims and their families said yesterday they were still not prepared to co-operate with the inquiry following the publication of terms of reference at the weekend.

Ms Anne Marie McCrystal said the terms had been published without the agreement of the families and victims. She said representatives of the families had put proposals on the terms to the Attorney General, Mr David Byrne, at a meeting on Friday.

The terms, which subsequently appeared in a Sunday newspaper, were published without agreement, she said. Solicitors for the families have written to the Attorney General setting out the improvements in the terms of reference needed to secure their co-operation. Mr David Coleman, another member of the legal team representing the families and victims, said last night their clients were unanimous in their position that they would not co-operate with the inquiry as currently constituted.

Families have been critical from the outset of the Government's refusal to establish a full judicial inquiry into how the sex abuse problem in swimming was handled by the authorities. They say the current inquiry is too limited in scope, but it is understood they would be prepared to co-operate with something other than a judicial investigation providing the terms of reference were acceptable.

However a Government spokesman said last night it was confident the inquiry which had just got under way would establish all the facts.