The Government should use its financial muscle to force the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) to become a more democratic organisation, former minister for sport Dr Jim McDaid has said.
Dr McDaid again demanded the resignation of the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Mr Pat Hickey, who he has described as "divisive" and "a national embarrassment".
He said the sports chief had stayed in command of the OCI for so long because of his iron control over some of the country's smaller sporting organisations.
"This is padlock democracy. You get in and stay in because you have been there for so long that you control everything," Dr McDaid told The Irish Times.
He stood by his previous criticism of Mr Hickey, despite support for him from Dr McDaid's successor in Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr O'Donoghue said Mr Hickey had treated him with "courtesy and professionalism" since he took up his ministerial duties.
Refusing to criticise Mr O'Donoghue, Dr McDaid said that Mr O'Donoghue had benefited from changes that he had forced through during his time in charge.
Up to then the Government had given the OCI money to distribute to sporting bodies.
"This gave Mr Hickey power over the smaller organisations," Dr McDaid said.
Mr Hickey controls the Irish Olympic Council executive, said Dr McDaid who also demanded a bigger role for the larger sporting associations on the OCI.
Meanwhile, Labour TD Mr Jack Wall said the Government must "commit itself to resourcing a new strategy for Irish sport".
He added: "For too long one-off achievements by individual athletes have masked our failure to develop a lasting and successful national strategy that will consistently develop athletes performing at the top end of international competition across a range of sports."
Green Party TD Mr Paul Gogarty said the Government must seek to identify promising athletes at a younger age, and increase funding for sports equipment and facilities in schools.
Local councils should work more closely with schools and sports clubs, he suggested, while a new physical education curriculum should be introduced for primary and second-level children.
Sinn Féin TD Mr Martin Ferris said the shortcomings of the Irish Olympic team in Athens were "a product of the lack of State support", and that "few of their achievements can be claimed as evidence of such support".
He said that the weekend had also seen the Community Games finals in which tens of thousands of children had taken part "in a competition that relies almost exclusively on the efforts of volunteers".
"State support for the games amounts to something in the region of 50c per participant, and yet if any of these young people excel to the stage where they represent Ireland internationally they will all of a sudden become the subject of great interest by whatever government happens to be in power at the time."
