Sport Ireland – along with other National Anti-Doping Agencies – have called for serious structural reform within the global regulator, the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Today is the closing day for input to a major governance review consultation being carried out across the world of sport.

“Sport Ireland, together with a number of our international colleagues, has been consistent in its public representations that urgent and robust reforms are necessary in order to strengthen the governance of WADA as the regulator of anti-doping,” said John Treacy, CEO of Sport Ireland.

“It is crucial that WADA’s Executive Committee is both independent and expert-led. The impact of this is two-fold. Firstly, it will remove any conflict of interest that currently exists; as it stands, major sport event organisers still have a disproportionately large hold on the governance of the organisation. Secondly, it will ensure that expert and experienced voices are around the table making the best decisions possible. This move is necessary to bring the organisation into the modern era of corporate governance.”

“As a group of National Anti-Doping Organisations, we have met many times over recent years to discuss the challenges surrounding tackling doping in sport and to see how we can use our expertise to support WADA in the genuine reform of the flawed governance and oversight model,” added Una May, Director of Participation and Ethics.

“Since 2016, we have been consistent in our representations on behalf of clean athletes so that they can have a voice at the table, and in our calls for an absolute removal of conflicts of interest in WADA’s governance. We are hopeful that this consultation will bear fruit and that we will see a stronger global regulator as a result.”

“As always, we remain available to provide assistance to WADA wherever we can to ensure that this happens.”

The executives were speaking after a virtual meeting of a group of National Anti Doping Agencies from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA.

There has been concern and anger at times in recent years over issues relating to the Russian Anti Doping Agency and practices.

 

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