Mr. Pat Hickey:

I welcome that witnesses are now protected by privilege. On each of the three previous occasions I appeared before this committee I complained bitterly about the fact that while Members were protected by privilege, citizens were not.

On the previous occasions on which I appeared before the committee, we, the citizens, had no privilege, whereas members did. I complained bitterly about this on each occasion. I congratulate whoever decided to extend privilege. It is only right that all citizens are treated equally.

I turn to our opening address. The Olympic Council of Ireland, OCI, is the organising committee charged with the authority to enter and send a team to each summer and winter Olympic Games. The OCI is the national Olympic committee governing the island of Ireland and recognised by the International Olympic Committee, IOC, as such. The OCI is a democratically elected body encompassing all Olympic sports and elected every four years by its member federations.

Preparation for every Olympic Games begins early in the four year cycle. The OCI appointed Sonia O'Sullivan, one of our greatest ever athletes, as the chef de missionof the Irish team for the London games. This decision was received enthusiastically by all parties and Sonia immediately began work, supported by our full-time professional administration team and sports director, with the federations and the athletes in preparation for the London games. It was significant to have the experience of such a leader and of great benefit and assistance to all our athletes to have a person of the stature of Sonia O'Sullivan living in the Olympic village with them to assist and advise the team.

It is a rule of the IOC that the torch relay will only travel within the territory of the Olympic committee of the host country. In the case of the London games, this raised a problem in the case of Ireland. The North of Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and a problem arose in relation to the torch relay travelling outside Northern Ireland. After successful lobbying with the IOC and the London organising committee and having regard to the current situation in Ireland, the goodwill between Ireland and the United Kingdom and the success of the Queen's visit to Ireland, permission was granted to bring the torch relay across the Border. It was a unique day - 6 June 2012 - when the torch crossed the Border carried by Wayne McCullough from Belfast - a boxing silver medallist at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games - and Michael Carruth from Dublin - a boxing gold medallist at the same games - together with several hundred schoolchildren from the national schools of Newry and Dundalk. The torch then came to Dublin and was received at the headquarters of the OCI in Howth by President Michael D. Higgins. It then went on a relay through Dublin city and was greeted by the Taoiseach at Government Buildings before ending its journey at a concert in St. Stephen's Green attended by thousands of people. It was a unique day in the country and truly showed how the power of sport could unite.

During the preparatory period for the games the OCI worked in very close collaboration with the Irish Sports Council, ISC, in completing an early stage working agreement which provided for our representation on the high performance advisory and technical committees. In tandem with a representative on the ISC board, this provided the two organisations with a regular communication strand from the top down. This joint approach paid great dividends. I acknowledge the great help and support we received from the ISC and commend the way it is continuing in the current preparations for the next Olympic Games. These are the Winter Olympic Games at Sochi, Russia, in February 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

When the qualification process finished, the team consisted of 66 athletes, covering 14 sports, including athletics, badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, gymnastics, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming and triathlon. The athletes were supported by a team of dedicated coaches and support staff to ensure they had all the assistance they required. A top-class medical team was put in place to ensure medical support for the athletes was second to none. On the advice of our chef de mission, Sonia O'Sullivan, it was decided to have a holding, or pre-training, camp. On foot of her great experience, she did not want the young athletes going directly into the Olympic village, which could have had a negative effect on them. She recommended a holding camp be adopted where the athletes were settled in and from which they were gradually moved into the Olympic village. We secured an arrangement with Lensbury, Teddington, and the initiative proved to be a gigantic success. The athletes were extremely happy with the arrangement. There was a significant Irish connection in the use of training grounds at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham, also known as Strawberry Hill, which, during the years, has trained many Irish physical education teachers. We were honoured to receive a visit from the Taoiseach to athletes at the holding camp. He also attended the opening and closing ceremonies, which was a great boost for the team. I reiterate the excellent support received from the ISC in the preparation phase and its financial contribution towards the camp. The Olympic village was top class and the Irish delegation received a great welcome from the officials there. Many volunteers at the village were from Ireland or had Irish heritage, which made it very pleasant for the athletes.

The opening ceremony took place on 27 July 2012 and competition started the same day. The competition finished with the closing ceremony on the evening of Sunday, 12 August 2012. We are happy to inform the committee that the results for Ireland were as follows; Katie Taylor, boxing gold; John Joe Nevin, boxing silver; Paddy Barnes, boxing bronze; Michael Conlan, boxing bronze; Cian O'Connor, equestrian bronze; Rob Heffernan, fourth place, 50 km walking race; Annalise Murphy, fourth place, laser radial sailing; eventing team, fifth place, equestrian; Aoife Clarke, seventh place, individual eventing, equestrian; Natayla Coyle, ninth place, modern pentathlon; Andrez Jezierski, ninth place, C1 200 m, canoeing; Hannah Craig, tenth place, canoe slalom; and David Burrows and Peter O'Leary, tenth place in the star category. In addition, the 4 x 400 women's relay team was ranked 13th, Sanita Puspure was placed 13th in single scull rowing and Martyn Irvine was placed 13th in men's omnium cycling. Further results included Olive Loughnane, 13th, 20 km walk; Joseph Murphy, 14th place, individual eventing, and Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton, 14th place in the 49er sailing category. Canoeist Eoin Rheinisch and Derval O'Rourke made their respective semi finals and were ranked 14th and 15th, respectively. This was the best ever performance of any Olympic team since Ireland first entered the Olympic Games at Paris in 1924.

We congratulate the London organising committee under Lord Sebastian Coe who is a great friend of Ireland and helped us in every way possible. The organisation of the games was top class and it was one of the best Olympic Games ever. The competition was helped considerably by the great support of the British public as volunteers and fans of sport who thronged to all venues ensuring athletes from around the world received tremendous support.

That concludes the brief presentation from the OCI. We will be very happy to answer questions members of the committee may have.