Updated 10:45
Sport for Business has learned that the Executive Committee of the Olympic Council of Ireland will meet this evening to discuss the initial Deloitte report into issues of its own governance.
The report was commissioned in September with a deadline to report back within a month and while other reports are taking longer than anticipated this one is now complete and will be shared this evening.
We understand that the report covers a review of 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.
Recommendations
There will be a number of recommendations on changes that might be made to the OCI Memorandum and Articles of Association/Constitution, including possibly a time limit on the tenure of members of the committee, a hot button topic for Government in relation to sport at present.
Relevant stakeholders including individual members of the OCI Executive Committee and OCI Member Federations, Sport Ireland, the European Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee were included in the initial brief. It is not known whether Pat Hickey, the long time President of the OCI , who stepped aside from his Olympic roles following his arrest in Brazil in August has been spoken to directly by Deloitte.
The message of support from the European Olympic Committee last week could suggest a turning of the tide in relation to Hickey’s reputation among his peers. The international Olympic ‘family’ had sought to distance themselves from any substantive association with Hickey up until that point.
Resigned
With John Delaney having resigned from the OCI Executive Committee on Tuesday night and last night the news emerging that Kevin Kilty was also stepping down ahead of tonight’s meeting to consider the Deloitte report, the Executive Committee is now down to a maximum of eleven people.
These include acting President William O’Brien representing Archery; Honorary General Secretary Dermot Henihan representing Rowing who. like Kilty, was detained for questioning in Rio before being cleared and allowed return to Dublin; Ciarán Ó’ Catháin representing Athletics; Billy Kennedy representing Cycling; Tommy Murphy representing Boxing; Robert Norwood representing Snowsports; Tom Rafter representing Fencing; Former Olympic athletes Sonia O’Sullivan and Darren O’Neill and Sarah Keane representing Swimming
Should the executive committee decide to put the report before its stakeholders, as must surely be the case, an EGM as opposed to an AGM would hAve a higher threshold to vote in change.
If though traditionalists on the Committee vote to adopt a ‘measured’ approach, delaying acceptance of the recommendations, then certain more members may choose to step down from their positions, leaving the Olympic Council here in a position of real danger as regards public trust.
Spotlight
That may be a price they are willing to pay in order to allow time to settle, the spotlight to move on and the status quo to be maintained. It would be wrong on a number of levels but politics can be a strange game at times.
Last month Basketball Ireland CEO Bernard O’Byrne’s call for clarity on a number of questions was pushed back by the committee until such time as this report had been considered.
Whether that greater and more public engagement now takes place is also up for grabs tonight.
Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton’s review of ticketing arrangements is taking longer to get to grips with the various elements at play and the potential legal ramifications of adverse findings.
Justice Moran’s report for the Government has already been pushed back to Easter.
Pat Hickey’s position remains the same with his passport retained and a curfew imposed on him but otherwise being free to live in relative freedom in an apartment paid for by the Olympic Council in Rio until such time as further developments in his case arise.
Intensity
The eyes of the Irish and international sporting world, at least at its administrative level will be on tonight’s meeting. We cannot tell whether the intensity of the gaze though will have any real impact on the decision of those taking part over whether to accept, reject or delay a response.
Sport Ireland has been advised of its budget for 2017 and is already in a process of determining how the money should be allocated across national Governing Bodies, individual athletes, High performance programmes, local sports partnerships and a host of other areas.
It is unlikely a submission for funding from the Olympic Council has been made thus far.
These are complex and frustrating days for sports administration. They will get through because they have to get through but tonight will give a clear indication of whether that will be done in a clear and transparent fashion or by clinging to ways that seem at odds with the broad thrust of modern governance best practice.
