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Is the OCI's brand toxic?

Following the publication of yesterday's report into Ireland's ticket touting scandal at the Olym...



Is the OCI's brand toxic?
Other Sports

Is the OCI's brand toxic?

Following the publication of yesterday's report into Ireland's ticket touting scandal at the Olympic summer games in Rio last summer, Ian O'Riordan and Ewan Mackenna joined Off The Ball to discuss the document and the future of Irish athletics.

"I got a copy in my email inbox this morning and I scrolled through it and I didn't even bother printing it. I didn't think it was worth the ink in my printer. That's what I think of this report," Ian told Joe Molloy.

 

The Irish Times reporter added that with the €300,000 spent on the probe we "could have built a nice track in UCD."

Toxicity

"It's [the IOC] completely toxic, but it has been for a while," Ewan added. He also said that he believes that the Irish operation is a "microcosm" of its parent body, the International Olympic Committee.

Ian believes that the legacy of Rio will have commercial consequences for Ireland's Olympic body and that it may struggle to retain and attract key commercial partners.

However, he added that under the leadership of Sarah Keane it is beginning to turn a corner: "I'd like to think they can rebuild, but they're rebuilding from below zero."

Here's the full conversation:

The former Olympic Council of Ireland President Pat Hickey has yet to indicate whether he will agree to appear before an Oireachtas committee this week.

The Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport is meeting to discuss the Moran report into alleged ticket touting at the Rio Olympics.

The Sports Minister Shane Ross will attend the hearing alongside officials from his department, representatives from the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) and Sport Ireland.

The report published by retired judge Carroll Moran yesterday warned that the inquiry had been hampered by the fact that it could not compel witnesses to appear before it.

The report was critical of governance arraignments at the OCI and found that accounting procedures at the organisation were not robust.

 

Additional reporting by Michael Staines

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