Swimming Scandals

Sir, - As a former pupil of King's Hospital at the time Derry O'Rourke was employed there, I was very interested to hear the …

Sir, - As a former pupil of King's Hospital at the time Derry O'Rourke was employed there, I was very interested to hear the findings of the Murphy Report.

I am baffled by what I've read in The Irish Times today. I don't understand why Dr Murphy wasn't given judicial powers to force witnesses to testify. What is the point of commissioning a barrister to compile a report on an issue as distasteful as this one is, if "interviewees" are not obliged by law to answer his questions.

Why was the report's remit limited to Leinster - is Jim McDaid so confident that sexual abuse of child swimmers hasn't taken place elsewhere in Ireland? To cap it all it now emerges that two other coaches are the subjects of similar investigations. (Could there be more?)

Unbelievably, this unpleasant story now smells even worse than it did before the Report was published. I imagine it must be very painful for the victims to deal with. - Yours, etc., Blaise O'Hara,

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Ranelagh, Dublin 6.