Swim Ireland 'not bankrupt'

Swimming News: Swim Ireland (SI) will not go out of business following the out-of-court settlement on Friday involving 13 swimmers who were sexually abused by the convicted paedophile Derry O'Rourke.

The former Irish Olympic coach served nine years in prison before being released last year.

In the agreement between Swim Ireland and King's Hospital School and the victims of O'Rourke, six-figure sums were awarded. One of those alone was over €500,000.

But SI and the Irish Sports Council, who fund Irish swimming, maintain the organisation will cover the claims and will continue to govern the sport here.

The money to be paid out to the victims, who fought for 10 years to reach the settlement, is estimated to be as much as €1 million for SI, and is expected to be raised from within swimming. Both the Government and the Sports Council have said that they will not bail out SI with a blank cheque.

Yesterday a spokesman for the governing body pointed out that there are currently 14,000 members, which suggests that the membership will have to contribute towards helping out the organisation.

Many of that 14,000 membership are children.

"SI is not bankrupt and will continue as the governing body of swimming," said the spokesman. "Swim Ireland's share will be met from its own resources. We will be funding the settlement from our own resources."

The chief executive of the Sports Council, John Treacy, yesterday reiterated that his organisation would not be providing the funds for the victim settlement.

"No, we won't be providing money to Swim Ireland for the settlements. Yes, they will be able to pay and they will be able to survive," said Treacy. "The settlement and costs are a matter for themselves and their members. I don't believe they will be bankrupt. I believe they will manage.

"We are pleased it has got to this point. This is a large part of the healing process for the victims. Swim Ireland have made huge progress over the last four years in terms of proper structure and building the high performance side of their sport. We will continue to invest in Swim Ireland with those strategies."

SI have no assets and are totally dependent on the income it receives from the Government through the Sports Council and through affiliation fees from members.

It is not the first time the organisation has faced financial ruin. When Dr Jim McDaid was Minister for Sport, he withheld all funding from the organisation as he felt it needed to "get its house in order" following the scandals of O'Rourke and, before him, Olympic coach George Gibney, now living in the US.