The head of Sport Ireland's anti-doping unit, Dr Una May, has revealed that Carlow footballer's Ray Walker's positive test for meldonium was the first time the substance had been detected in a test here.
The drug was developed in Latvia during the Soviet era and has been used primarily as a heart medication. It increases blood flow around the body and had been used by some athletes, most notably former tennis star Maria Sharapova, before being banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2016.
"It's not a substance that we have detected in a sample previous to this," Dr May, director of Participation and Ethics at Sport Ireland, told RTÉ Sport after the case details of Walker's four-year ban were announced.
"It's quite common in some parts of the world, it's not as common here.
"We would consider it unusual in that it's not available in any Irish medications and it's not for sale in Ireland.
"It was unusual and we were surprised to see it but we can't speculate as how it got there or how common it is or how available it is."
Sharapova received a two-year ban, eventually reduced to 15 months on appeal, after offering the defence that she had long been taking meldonium due to a family history of heart problems and diabetes, and was unaware its status had changed.
Walker has been banned for the mandatory four years as despite insisting he inadvertently consumed the substance, he ultimately decided not to appeal the finding or length of suspension.
"She provided an explanation, which was accepted, and Ray Walker chose to accept the sanction as it was," said Dr May.
"It's the maximum for a first offence. A maximum ban is the automatic ban. You can work downwards from that depending on circumstances.
"If a person feels they have a case that they can explain how a substance got into their system and that it was inadvertent, depending on their response, they can reduce the sanction. But it always starts at four years."
