Olympic Council of Ireland presidential candidate Willie O’Brien believes his long-standing association with the organisation should not be perceived as a negative and accentuated the importance of continuity.
O’Brien, Sarah Keane and Bernard O’Byrne are the three candidates in the running to replace Pat Hickey, who was arrested in Brazil at last year’s Rio Games and charged with ticket touting, though he was eventually released on bail and is now back in Ireland.
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A draft report carried out by Deloitte into the Olympic Council of Ireland's governance and management in the wake of the Rio ticketing scandal called for term limits for senior executives.
The report says no member of the executive committee should serve more than 12 years consecutive or cumulative. If O’Brien wins the race for presidency, by the end of his term he will have served 24 years.
“I disagree with it from the point of view of the continuity of service to the OCI," he told RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
"I spent two terms, eight years, as a committee member at ground floor level learning from those experiences and I spent three terms as first vice president learning from the experiences. I’m now going forward with my candidature for president and this would be my first term as president.
“I definitely agree that once you get to the position of leader of the organisation that the term limit should be limited to the two terms with the option for the third term if it’s necessary.
“We can’t just look at it in isolation of cutting everything off after two terms, or three terms, putting everybody out, throwing out the baby with the bath water and starting off all over again."
O’Brien has been acting OCI President since last August, and before the touting scandal broke was seen as Hickey’s likely successor.
He admitted more transparency was required within the OCI but insisted positive changes had already been implemented in recent years.
"The changes required are to make the Olympic Council more open and transparent.
“The OCI has done many good things in moving forward in terms of transparency, providing better amenities, providing better experiences for the athletes through the work we’ve done with the Sports Council.
“In the position of power that I’ve had on the Olympic Council I’ve mainly concentrated on working for the betterment of the athletes, in providing the experience required through the preparation for the Olympic teams in cooperating with the Irish Sports Council and probably taken my eye off the ball in line of the transparency and the requirement of the management side of the Games."
Hickey travelled to Rio First Class, but O'Brien said he would not avail of that luxury if he wins the presidency.
“I have travelled First Class [in the past] - never while athletes travelled Economy. I went to Rio Business Class. The athletes travelled Economy.
“I believe that on a long-haul trip like Rio everybody should travel Business Class. Unfortunately it’s such an expensive commodity the OCI couldn’t afford that.”
