The lawyer charged with investigating the Irish Amateur Swimming Association's handling of child sex abuse has been strongly defended against claims ail that he was chairman of a club when reports of abuse were made.
Following a row yesterday, Government sources last night vehemently denied a claim by the Labour spokesman on sport, Mr Michael Ferris, that Dr Roderick Murphy SC had been chairman of the Glenalbyn swimming club when the reports were made.
Senior Government sources insisted that Dr Murphy was never chairman of the committee of the south Dublin club. He had been a member of the committee between 1992 and 1994 but, during that period, no allegations of sexual abuse were referred to it.
During questions to the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid, Mr Ferris, TD for South Tipperary, questioned Dr Murphy's independence. Amid cries of protest from the Government benches, Mr Ferris said Dr Murphy had a "vested interest" and asked if the Minister considered it "wise" to name him "without first consulting with the people concerned".
"That is an important question for him to answer because, from the information we have from the people concerned, they have no intention of coming into an inquiry that is under the chairmanship of Dr Murphy," Mr Ferris said.
Calling on the deputy to withdraw his remark, Dr McDaid said "nothing could be further from the truth". Asked later by the Ceann Comhairle if he wished to withdraw the remark, Mr Ferris said he would do so if there was any inference about Dr Murphy.
Meanwhile, the solicitor representing some of the abuse victims and their families said he was still consulting his clients on whether they would co-operate with the inquiry. Mr David Coleman met the Attorney General to discuss the implications of the non-judicial inquiry yesterday.
Shortly after the Minister announced the inquiry on Tuesday, Mr Coleman said his clients would not participate. Refusing to comment on his meeting with the Attorney General, He told The Irish Times that "my initial reaction still stands".
Advertisements will be placed by Dr Murphy in next week's newspapers asking people involved in any aspect of the matter to contact him.
Sources confirmed that the Government - not the IASA - will pay for the inquiry, which is scheduled to last four weeks.