A statement to be read at Swim Ireland's agm in Tralee, Co Kerry next week will inform delegates there are currently 15 sets of proceedings in the High Court against the organisation and three other defendants with respect to alleged child sexual abuse. Johnny Watterson reports.
All the proceedings relate to Swim Ireland's former national coach Derry O'Rourke.
O'Rourke was jailed for 12 years in 1998 after pleading guilty to 29 charges of child sex abuse. In May 2000, he again pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to a further 10 sex abuse charges.
Following O'Rourke's conviction, the Government suspended funding for the then Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) and announced an inquiry into its handling of allegations against O'Rourke and his predecessor, George Gibney.
The main allegation against Swim Ireland's predecessor, the IASA, is that it failed to have in place policies and procedures that protected young children from the coaches. Gibney fled Ireland after allegations of child abuse against him appeared in a national newspaper.
Swim Ireland has itself taken a case against its insurers, Royal&Sun Alliance (RSA), with respect to these claims. The basis of Swim Ireland's claim against RSA is that the relevant policies of insurance that were in place with the company at the time the incidents are alleged to have occurred cover this type of claim.
Swim Ireland will argue that in the event that they are found liable in any of the 15 sets of proceedings, then RSA should indemnify them for any costs incurred with respect to the case against it.
RSA have until now refused to indemnify Swim Ireland in respect of the claims, which is causing a drain on the relatively small, amateur-based sports organisation. Swim Ireland's solicitors, Matheson Ormsby Prentice, are not yet in a position to assess what, if any, liability, may attach to Swim Ireland, the report says.
The organisation is also set to express its regret to "anyone who has felt marginalised within Swim Ireland or isolated from the organisation or any of its constituent branches as a result of having voiced concerns about the operation of the organisation in the past".
European breaststroke silver medallist Gary O'Toole, now a qualified medical doctor, was the public face of many of the charges against the IASA.
One of his claims was that when he and his father, Aidan, formally informed the Leinster Branch about allegations of sexual abuse carried out by the then Olympic coach Gibney, they were ignored. Other parents and swimmers have also claimed to have had similar experiences with the IASA as the O'Tooles.