Three officers of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association announced their intention to resign last night, and others were urged to do likewise following the Murphy report on sex abuse in the sport.
The president, Ms Mary O'Malley, the secretary, Ms Pat O'Donovan, and the treasurer, Mr Wally Clarke, intend to step down at the annual general meeting of the association on July 26th.
Speaking at an Ulster branch meeting in Belfast, Ms O'Malley called on all elected representatives of the IASA to "join in unison with the three officers and tender their resignations at that meeting".
The announcement was made as IASA officers began a series of consultative meetings with the four branches, which will continue this week. A team has been appointed to formulate new structures for Irish swimming to replace the existing IASA structures and implement the recommendations of the Murphy report. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by officers of the association.
Ms O'Malley said the association must draw on the mistakes of the past and build a better future for the sport. She said swimming would have a "complete revamp" and urged other officers to tender their resignations.
"This call is not made lightly, but it is a small sacrifice which we can all make for the greater good of swimming. It is only by immediate and sweeping action that we can win the confidence of the community at large," she said.
It is proposed that elections will be held in September under a new constitution approved by representatives of the swimming community.
It will be up to the a.g.m. to make sure that the management of swimming in Ireland is transferred to a new body which will be drawn up according to the recommendations of the Murphy report, Ms O'Malley said.
"For 104 years the four provinces within the association have stood united through times of strife. At the end of this process and with the emergence of a new association, I would like to see the four provinces standing united once more," she said.
"Hopefully at the end of it all we will have a body of which we will all be proud, a body which will serve as a model to other sporting bodies in the structures and safeguards that we can offer to our members."