Sir, - I refer to the article by Eileen Battersby in last Thursday's (June 20th) Irish Times which profiled Pat Hickey, president of the Olympic Council of Ireland.
I wish to correct wrong information which was given in the article regarding Government funding for the Olympic Council of Ireland.
The facts are that the total grant aid allocated to the OCI for the period 1993-1996 in preparation for Atlanta amounts to £3,263,081 million.
This figure is broken down as follows:
Annual grant £2,750,000
Atlanta Aid £450,000
Sports £28,081
Youth Olympics £35,000
As you can see, the Government funding for Atlanta 96 is quite substantial. Indeed, it is acknowledged by the President of the Olympic Council of Ireland that this is the best prepared and best funded Olympic team over to represent Ireland.
I would also like to point out that the average allocation to sport from the National Lottery proceeds since 1988 is 15.82 per cent and not 2 per cent as stated in the article.
I would be grateful if you could make the necessary corrections in order to give your readers the true picture of the situation.
I would like to take this opportunity of wishing our Olympic team every success in Atlanta. - Yours, etc.,
Minister for Sport,
Dublin 1.