One of the more striking headlines from the weekend media was that Pat Hickey was preparing to resume his role as President of the Olympic Council of Ireland if permitted to travel from Brazil in advance of his trial on charges related to ticket touting.
Hickey himself however made no mention of that in a statement issued last night instead restating his innocence and that he will vigorously defend his good name and character.
He added that he had been ‘heartened and humbled by the outpouring of support, letters, texts and emails’ he had received, presumably having regained some access to the computer and mobile technology upon which much of the police case appears to have been based.
Distance
The Olympic Council of Ireland acting President Willie O’Brien though seems to distance the prospect of a short term return suggesting that Hickey’s stepping aside was in order to fight the charges.
“Mr Hickey stepped aside as president when initially arrested and for the period of his legal challenge to accusations made against him by the Brazilian authorities,” O’Brien told the irish Independent last night.
“The Olympic Council of Ireland has received no further notice of any change to that position.”
Questions
Bernard O’Byrne’s letter from Basketball Ireland outlining a series of questions which the Olympic Council of Ireland should answer to its constituent sporting organisation members was the topic of much discussion over the weekend with a broad base of support for its sentiments from sporting bodies we spoke to.
His request for a meeting to clarify where the Olympic Council of Ireland stands on a number of issues arising from the controversy has been pushed back to the conclusion of the OCI’s internal investigation.
This is likely to be another month creating an unnecessary vacuum at a time when decisions are being made at Government level over funding of sport as part of the overall budget for 2017.
Engagement
There wil however be some engagement as OCI member federations are to be engaged with during this time by the consultants Deloitte who were appointed on Friday evening to conduct the OCI’s independent review of governance arrangements under its current Constitution.
The review will involve the following:
Reviewing the OCI Memorandum and Articles of Association/Constitution and the governance arrangements in the constitutions of a selection of relevant comparator sports bodies and other National Olympic Committees with a view to making recommendations on changes that might be made to the OCI Memorandum and Articles of Association/Constitution;
Engaging on the above with relevant stakeholders (members of the OCI Executive Committee and OCI Member Federations, Sport Ireland, the European Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee;
Preparation of a draft report on the findings of the review to include recommendations on governance principles that may lead to changes to the OCI Memorandum and Articles of Association/Constitution and any other relevant matters that Deloitte identify during the course of their work and deem to be relevant.
It is anticipated that the initial exercise will be concluded within a month and the report will then be shared with the OCI Executive Committee. It is expected that all agreed changes to the OCI Constitution will then be put to an OCI EGM soon after.
Investigations
Arthur Cox completed an initial review of Board minutes which was leaked to media two weeks ago. Grant Thornton were then appointed to consider the ticketing arrangements in place with the OCI. Deloitte is now the third big corporate brand to be given the right to look into what happened with regard to the circumstances leading to the shaming of Irish sports administration in Rio.
With Judge Carroll Moran also at work on the Government’s inquiry it is hoped that the Olympic Council Headquarters in Howth has plenty of visitor parking.
