In spite of being the fourth biggest recipient of grant aid for elite athletes this week, the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has slammed the Irish Sports Council's decision not to allocate funding for two of its full-time sailors who had received partial funding from the Northern Ireland Sports Council.
According to the ISA's Olympic team manager Bill O'Hara, Ballyholme's John Driscoll, a world class three athlete on the carding scheme, and Colin Chapman, an international athlete, were expecting £15,000 and £9,000 respectively but received nothing when the grants were announced on Wednesday because of a rule over dual funding.
"The Sports Council decision to withdraw the funding arrangements that were in place in 1998 without prior warning is very unfair and we are making a strong appeal against this unjust decision," the ISA's Paddy Boyd said yesterday.
John Treacy told The Irish Times that awards were not made because the sailors had received funding from the sports council in Northern Ireland. Funding from both councils was not allowed under the scheme, he said.
It is understood that the sailors received grants of £6,200 each from the Northern Ireland Council but had outgoings including equipment and travel costs totalling over £20,000. Both have incurred expenses under the reasonable assumption that they would have the same level of funding as in 1998.
Wednesday's announcement struck a double blow as the delay in publishing this week's awards came virtually at the end of the Olympic classes season when the sailors had already reached the maximum level of expenditure.
Abroad, in a one-two for the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Mark Mansfield and the crew of Union Chandlery retained their European 1720 championship title yesterday in light winds off Falmouth from Anthony O'Leary and the crew of Ford Racing.
In what turned out to be an action replay of the inaugural championship last year, Mansfield recorded a second and an eighth place against O'Leary's first and 13th for an overall win after eight races in the 50-boat fleet.
