The Irish Sports Council Statement on Doping Allegations Published on 2 August 2015

The Irish Sports Council (ISC) is aware of the serious allegations of doping made in a documentary broadcast on the German ARD/WRD network and published the Sunday Times.

These allegations raise serious concerns for the Irish Sports Council.

We are aware that the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) will conduct an independent investigation into the allegations under the leadership of Richard Pound and we await further results.

The allegations are a cause of great concern and we want to ensure that Irish athletes competing on the world stage do so on a level playing field.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and are extremely concerned of the serious nature of these allegations.



About the Irish Anti Doping Programme

Since 1999, the Irish Sports Council has operated the Irish Anti Doping Programme.

All Governing Bodies recognized by the Irish Sports Council and athletes under the International Carding Scheme, are subject to the Irish Anti Doping Programme; one of the most robust testing programmes in the world.

The programme is benchmarked internationally and operates an intelligence-led approach including profiling athlete biological passports.

The ISC test both in competition and out of competition and in 2014, of the 1,054 tests conducted, 25% were testing blood.

The ISC works in close partnership with the World Anti Doping Agency and leading national and international sports bodies and is committed to the relentless pursuit of clean sport.

More information on the Irish Anti Doping Programme can be found at http://www.irishsportscouncil.ie/Anti-Doping/