IASA chief criticises plans for new structures in swimming

The president of the troubled Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) has defended the way in which the association was run and criticised proposed new structures.

Ms Mary O'Malley has claimed in a newsletter circulated to members at Christmas that the old structures of the IASA were fairer than those proposed in the new Swim Ireland association.

Swim Ireland is in the process of being formed following a series of child-abuse scandals and a Government inquiry, which has torn the sport apart.

Ms O'Malley also distances herself from the official IASA submission which was forwarded to Mr Roderick Murphy for the inquiry into child sexual abuse in the sport.

Ms O'Malley states: "There were a lot of shortcomings in the old system. However, on looking closely at the new structure, is Swim Ireland any better than the IASA? In some ways the IASA structure was fairer."

She further questions the greater power now vested in the new executive committee of Swim Ireland.

"This situation is definitely giving autonomy to the executive committee. What we must look at next is does it enfranchise the members."

One of the main thrusts of the Murphy report recommendations was to avoid concentrating power among a small base of people, but to make the organisation more representative of its members and open. But Ms O'Malley says she was not involved in compiling the document from the IASA which was put forward to the inquiry.

As president of the organisation Ms O'Malley is both the figurehead and an executive member involved in the administrative aspects of running the association.

Meanwhile, claims concerning the appointment of a child protection officer have also drawn criticism. According to a prominent coach, Ms Carole Walsh, the swimming body turned down professional assistance regarding child protection when it was offered during the summer of 1998.

The IASA decided not to accept the offer of a psychologist, Ms Felicity Heathcoate, when she proposed that she take on the child protection officer's role for a fraction of the cost of employing somebody full time. Her intention was to provide interim support, which was inexpensive, to the fractured organisation in the wake of the jailing of Olympic coach Derry O'Rourke in February 1998.

The IASA claims to have advertised the position of a child officer but decided that it could not afford to employ anybody. It has no plans to appoint such an officer until the Minister for Tourism and Sport, Dr McDaid, restores funding.

Ms Heathcoate's offer, having been discussed at executive level in the IASA, was apparently turned down on the basis that she did not have the experience to fulfil such a role.

Ms Heathcoate has been a clinical psychologist for almost 30 years, having qualified in 1970, and has been working in the area of sport for 20 years. She was appointed as a sports psychologist to the Irish Olympic team in Barcelona in 1992 by the Olympic Council of Ireland and has again been appointed to the Irish team for the Sydney games in 2000.