Eamonn Coghlan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome and I thank him for his enthusiastic presentation. I was one of those who was faced with a choice in the context of dual careers. The question which arose was whether I should go to work or whether I should run. I chose to run, for economic reasons. The Institute of Sport has done fantastic work in terms of preparing our sports people and educating them in respect of their careers after sport. The Minister of State referred to dual careers and the guidelines that have been prepared and said that a number of conclusions, which will be presented next week, have been reached. What form do the guidelines, which were not mentioned in the Minister of State's presentation, take?

We are aware that doping in sport is a scourge. There are examples of doping taking place at many Olympiads. For example, the 1,500 m champion at the Beijing Olympics was found to have doped and was stripped of his gold medal. The women's 1,500 m champion from the London Olympics was recently found guilty of doping. Only last week the winner of the women's 60 m hurdles at the European indoor championships was proven to be guilty of doping. I hope Derval O'Rourke, who finished fourth in that event, will be promoted to the bronze medal position. We refer to the fundamental principles of honesty and fair play in sport and we try to instil these into the young people we coach and try to encourage to participate in sport. In the context of the Government's relationships with the various sports councils throughout the world, is it time to replace the current three-strikes-and-you-are-out system with a one-strike model? Should sports people sign up to a code of conduct which stipulates that if they take drugs and are caught, they are out?