The Leinster Branch of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) did a complete u-turn during a bizarre and often angry annual general meeting on Saturday in Kilkenny.

Two officials, Penny Stratham and Barbara Claxton, who were forced to resign last week, were reinstated after a heated debate in which Leinster Branch president Harry Kavanagh made a personal apology before officiating over their return to the organisation.

The two officials were pressurised into stepping down from the Leinster scene after a letter from Celia Milane, secretary of the IASA, was received and considered by the Leinster branch.

The contents of this letter were made known at the meeting but were deemed too controversial to allow the media to be in attendance at the time. In an unprecedented move by the Leinster Branch, and following advice from their legal representative, Tom Baldwin, who argued that the press had a different agenda to the other people in the room, The Irish Times was, after a vote, instructed to leave the meeting.

An individual who spoke before The Irish Times was removed said: "We got a letter from the IASA that could not be ignored. If we did ignore it we would have been accused of dragging our heels as in the George Gibney affair."

The George Gibney affair related to the former Irish Olympic coach, who was accused in the media in 1994 of sexually abusing young swimmers in his care and who has since disappeared following stints in the Warrender club in Scotland and the North Jeffco Swim Club in Colorado, USA.

The highly-charged issue involving the two officials was brought up early in the meeting by a delegate, who argued that the matter should be discussed as a matter of priority. She then moved a motion that the controversy should be debated immediately and that standing orders should be suspended. The motion was carried by a two thirds' majority.

The delegate then insisted that the two officials had been put in a position whereby "they had no option but to resign" in a matter relating to a swimming coach, who has since been arrested by the police on serious charges involving offences against children. This case is now going through the courts. There was no suggestion at any stage that either of the two officials had taken part in or were associated with anything illegal.

One club representative asked what "the basis was for the removal of the two officials" and added that "both women had been treated shabbily".

Another pointed out that clubs had not even been informed about the forced resignation of the two women, one of whom was the public relations officer of the Leinster Branch and the other an executive in the IASA and Swim Secretary for the Leinster Branch.

The thrust of the letter from the IASA, which was described by Baldwin as being "like a bolt out of the blue", was that there was growing disquiet over the train of events which led to the investigation in 1993 and subsequent arrest of the coach the following year. The focus of attention centred on decisions made by the club to which the arrested swimming coach was attached.

A letter from the solicitor of triple Olympic gold medallist and European champion, Michelle de Bruin was also received by the Leinster Branch and was read out at the meeting. It too was highly critical of the officials at the club to which the coach belonged.

Both officials were reinstated following a divisive debate on the issue. It was then put to a vote which went in their favour. In a statement, the Leinster Branch said that both officials had been reinstated and president Harry Kavanagh apologised for the manner in which they were treated and for the pain and hurt the two had suffered as a result of the episode.