Sports Council spends €75k on officials for the Olympics

Fish'n'Chips

Article from the Sunday Tribune. Irish Sport is in great hands:rolleyes:

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2009/jan/18/sports-council-spends-75k-on-officials-for-the-oly/

Ken Foxe Public Affairs Correspondent
Organisation defends costs, which included €1,458 on one restaurant meal, as justifiable

Council chairman: Ossie Kilkenny

THE Irish Sports Council spent more than €75,000 sending seven officials to the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer, it has emerged.


And while the council admitted the costs of the trip had been very high, they said it was justified in light of how much was spent on high-performance athletes.


The Sports Council has spent a total of €482,705 on overseas travel during the past five years, expenses claims from the group show.


The cost of the Beijing Olympics was, however, particularly high with more than €30,000 spent on flights and a further €42,033 spent on hotels and dining.


The Irish Sports Council also paid more than €10,000 flying former GAA president Seán Kelly to the Games as part of his role as executive chairman of the Irish Institute of Sport.


A further €1,458 was spent on a single meal at a hotel in Beijing.


A spokesman defended the spending, saying: "The situation is that high-performance sport is core business for the Irish Sports Council.


"Beijing was expensive... around the Olympics, costs went up substantially. We had a small team of six there, including the chairman [Ossie Kilkenny] and the chief executive [John Treacy].


"Our high-performance manager Finbar Kirwan also travelled while Gary Keegan and Phil Moore attended, both of whom were intimately involved in the Olympic set-up.


"When we could, we selected dates 12 months in advance knowing it was a high-peak time so we could take advantage of lower costs but that was not always possible.


"People were unsure about dates and tickets were purchased later and hence, some of the tickets were certainly more expensive than they might have been."


Flights to Beijing for the Paralympics in February 2008 cost €2,262 each, when four people – including chief executive John Treacy – travelled.


In advance of the actual summer games, another trip was taken: this time, the flights had substantially increased with air tickets for John Treacy and Ossie Kilkenny costing €3,927.52 per person.


Six people then travelled to Beijing for the games themselves, with tickets for John Treacy and Ossie Kilkenny costing €5,557.69 each.


Officials Finbarr Kirwan and Austin Mallon also travelled but their flights only cost €3,002 each while alternative arrangements were made for Gary Keegan and Phil Moore to fly for €2,547.


Another major cost was separate packages for tickets and hotels, which in at least three cases cost more than €10,000 per person.


So-called Silver Medal Olympic Packages were booked through the Sportsworld Group on behalf of Finbarr Kirwan and Phil Moore at a cost of €22,000. A similar package was also booked for Seán Kelly at a cost of €10,770.90.


Hotel accommodation for Ossie Kilkenny and John Treacy at the Westin Beijing is listed in the records as having cost in excess of €11,200 over a period of nine days.


A meal charged to Finbarr Kirwan at the Beijing American Club Restaurant cost €1,458, the Irish Sports Council expenses claims show.


The spokesman said: "There was one dinner hosted by the Sports Council, which would explain the large restaurant bill and it was an event to acknowledge the team. We would think that was justified.


"It was expensive unfortunately but that is just the nature of an Olympics. We do our level best to keep our costs down but it is not always possible."

Zamboni

Unbelievable considering the OCI didn't have tickets for ISC staff.

Treacy must like long plane journeys. :rolleyes: