The Irish Sports Council have suspended funding to Andrew Bree after he tested positive for a banned substance at the European Short Course swimming championships last December.
Bree remains the the only Irish swimmer to have qualified for the Olympic Games.
The swimmer was due to recieve €12,000 under the 2008 elite carding scheme from the Irish Sports Council, but that has been put on hold.
Sports Council CEO John Tracy claims that his hands are tied in the case as it comes under the juridiction of FINA, the world governing body of swimming.
Bree, 26, who has been based in Tennessee University in the US for the last few years, tested positive for a banned substance found, it is claimed, in an inhaler, bought over the counter in the US.
The positive test has been officially registered as an adverse finding for Levmethamfetamine, which is contained in the US version of a Vicks Inhaler, the same product that led to a three month ban for Scottish skier Alain Baxter, who won an Alpine bronze medal at Salt Lake City in 2002.
