From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
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The Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education, Thomas Byrne, today (Thursday 4 May) confirmed that he had signed a fourth collective statement by 36 like-minded Sports Ministers worldwide on Russia's war on Ukraine and international sport.
Minister Byrne said:
“Ireland is firm in its support for Ukraine and is clear that Russia’s flagrant breach of the Olympic Truce on two occasions cannot be ignored by the IOC. Allowing Russian or Belarusian athletes to compete in next year’s Paris Games, as so-called neutral athletes cannot seriously be contemplated by the IOC unless it addresses outstanding issues such as the close military connections of athletes, state funding, the definition of what constitutes teams, and on enforcement mechanisms. The credibility of international sport is at stake and the IOC must act with decisiveness and absolute clarity."
Minister Byrne emphasised that Ireland fully respected the autonomy of sporting organisations. That did not however, according to Minister Byrne:
“mean that we simply sit quietly on the side-line and not call out the total necessity for all sporting organisations to always live up to their responsibilities and vindicate the values of mutual respect and tolerance that must underpin international sport. The IOC will be judged on the basis of its actions, not its words and, along with fellow signatories to our joint statement, I will be closely watching the implementation of the recommendations by the IOC and international sports federations over the coming weeks."
Thursday, 4 May 2023
We, as Ministers and equivalent senior representatives for sport of our like-minded countries, have noted the recommended conditions of participation for individual neutral athletes and support personnel with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international sports competitions, and the accompanying press statement, published by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 28 March 2023. We maintain that the Russian state, which has broken the Olympic Truce twice, must not be allowed to use sport to legitimise its barbaric and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, nor should the Belarusian state be able to use sport to legitimise its complicity in Russia's war of aggression.
On the IOC recommendations, we are clear that while some aspects of the strong concerns we raised in our collective statement of 21 February 2023 have been addressed by the IOC, there are substantial issues remaining, not least around military connections of athletes, state funding, the definition of what constitutes teams, and on enforcement mechanisms.
We underline again that our position is not one of discrimination against individuals on the basis of their passport, and we respect the rights of all athletes to be treated without any discrimination in accordance with the Olympic Charter. We are focused on fair sporting competition as well as on ensuring that Russian and Belarusian athletes are in no way appearing as representatives of their states, as the IOC is also seeking to ensure through its recommendations.
While fully respecting the autonomy of sporting organisations, we will closely watch the implementation of the recommendations by the IOC and international sports federations over the coming weeks. If these issues are not addressed, we would expect the IOC to reconsider its approach.
Signatories
Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia. Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, USA and the UK.