Statement from Olympic Council of Ireland – 6.30pm March 2nd 2012
Re: Justine McCarthy – Sunday Times – / Italk Sport / Setanta
Here are the real facts, not the spin:
The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) has great sympathy with George Gibney’s victim and, indeed, all of George Gibney’s unfortunate victims. The woman referred to in Justine McCarthy’s articles in the Sunday Times, let’s call her Ms. SD, seems to have been badly advised in pursuing a case against the OCI.
Ms. SD was never on an Olympic team, never on an Olympic preparation programme and she never participated in any competition under the aegis of the OCI. Why the OCI were sued by Ms. SD in the first place was not and is still not understood. The OCI had no involvement whatsoever with Ms. SD.
George Gibney was selected by the then Irish Amateur Swimming Association as Olympic coach for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. When the Seoul Games were over George Gibney retired as the Olympic coach in September of 1988. The incidents referred to and complained of by Ms. SD happened three years later in 1991 at a Trojan Swimming Club camp and event in Florida, U.S.A., where George Gibney attended as the Trojan Club coach. The OCI and the Olympic movement had nothing to do with this, or any other event that Ms. S.D. participated in.
The OCI first heard of Ms. SD six years later in 1997 when she instituted civil legal proceedings against the OCI. Naturally the OCI had to legally defend itself over the subsequent years despite telling Ms. SD’s various legal representatives that the OCI had no case to answer.
Mr. Justice Gerard Hogan in the High Court rejected Ms. SD’s case in December 2010 and found in favour of the OCI, dismissing Ms. SD’s case against the OCI and awarding costs in favour of the OCI.
Ms. SD recently settled another civil action against one of her legal representatives for very substantial damages and costs. The damages are thought to be in excess of €200K and Ms. SD’s own legal costs in this action are thought to be in excess of €300K. These sums will be paid or have been paid to Ms. SD by the professional indemnity insurers Liberty International.
The OCI’s legal costs awarded by Mr. Justice Hogan in the High Court are currently with the Taxing Master and, again, these legal costs will be paid by Liberty International Insurance Company and not by Ms. SD.
The legal costs that are due to the OCI were an item of claim in Ms. SD’s action against her former solicitor and part of the claim in the negotiated settlement reached with Liberty International. Indeed Ms. SD’s solicitors D.R. Pigot & Co. undertook on the 16th of December 2011 in writing to pay the OCI’s legal costs at the conclusion of the taxation decision.
Ms. SD through her solicitor has acknowledged that the legal costs due to the OCI are due. These legal costs were paid to Ms. SD by Liberty International.
Once again the OCI wishes to express its deepest concern with Ms. SD on the attacks and assaults on her by George Gibney and, of course, the OCI has sympathy not only for Ms. SD but the other unfortunate victims of George Gibney.