Apart from his role as President of the Olympic Council of Ireland and the European Olympic Committee, Pat Hickey was also the IOC Executive Member with special responsibility for ensuring the autonomy of National Olympic Committee’s.
Appointed to that role in 2014 it is ironic that he and the Irish Committee should be subject to the full rigours of a Government inquiry into matters around ticketing at London, Sochi and Rio.
If he were not in jail in Rio, and it were a country other than Ireland in this invidious position it is almost certain that he would have been out front for the IOC suggesting that the Olympic movement is non-political and should retain independence from Government oversight and interference.
Countries have been admonished and evicted from the Olympic movement in the past for allowing Governments ‘interfere’ in their affairs.
Perhaps it is different when the stakes are as high as they are today.
The OCI announced yesterday that it had appointed a high tech information security company to secure and seal its servers so that all communications and documents stored electronically can be handed over to the inquiry to be headed by 71 year old retired judge Carroll Moran.
That proves the willingness to comply fully with the investigation which serves the remaining Council Executives well. It also though suggests that perhaps such a measure was needed to remove any temptation to take a look back on what was done in advance.
Kevin Kilty and Stephen Martin are due to meet with police this evening in Rio.
Should they be released without any charge and return home they now know the terms of reference for the inquiry before which they will also be asked to appear.
Those terms set no boundary in the words of Minister Shane Ross on who might be called and what might in time be looked at.
For now though the investigation will look at the policies, procedures, processes and practices around Olympic ticketing and the appointment of Authorised Ticket Resellers for the last three Olympic Games.
There is a lot to get through in the allowed time of 12 weeks given over for the possible first stage of the investigation.
If nothing was done wrong, as remains the consistent message from all the parties, then that will be what emerges.
If there is public fault found though in the manner or the manners of the way in which tickets were controlled and distributed then the court of public opinion at least may yet look unkindly on the ways of the OCI and whether Government funding is distributed their in future has to be open to some measure of doubt.
