The Minister for Sport, Dr Jim McDaid, yesterday announced that "dramatic progress" is being made in the development of the country's first 50-metre pool. The decision on the Olympic-sized pool, a perennial bugbear for successive sports ministers, will probably be made early in the new year.

In his end-of-year statement, Dr McDaid also noted that 1998 was a "landmark year" for sport which saw the first full year of operation for the new Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation. The Department was established in July 1997.

It is hoped to have the Irish Sports Council Bill, which makes the existing council a statutory body, enacted early in the new year with the new Sports Council up and running by the middle of 1999. A number of issues have been identified which should have a significant effect, not least the long-awaited National Sports Anti-Doping Programme which it is promised will be implemented once the new Sports Council is in place.

In his statement, Dr McDaid also points out that funding for the three larger sports organisations, the GAA, FAI and IRFU, is, from this year, contingent on the development of programmes in areas of social and economic disadvantage and the involvement of children and young people in sport. The IRFU, particularly, have been criticised in the past for failing to expand beyond the traditional rugby academies, although it is something they have begun to address.

Also launched in May of this year was a new international carding scheme which grades athletes according to their ability and potential. Funding is direct and includes access, free of charge, to a range of sports science and medical expertise. To receive funding each of the 170 athletes who qualified for a card had to make a contract to be drugs free.

Apart from the Drugs Programme and the setting-up of the Sports Council, the review of the role of women in sport is also not yet complete. The task force appointed to carry out this work is expected to present their report in the spring.

Dr McDaid finished his statement by acknowledging the input of athletes throughout the year.

"The real heroes in 1998, however, are not the politicians and the administrators but Irish athletes and sports people of all codes who demonstrated yet again their skill, commitment and excellence in our sports stadia here at home and in international arenas."