Simon Harris has described a dispute between the national governing body for triathlons and the organisers of an event in which two competitors died at the weekend as “unedifying”.
Ivan Chittenden, in his 60s and from Toronto in Canada, and Brendan Wall, who was in his 40s and living in the UK but originally from Co Meath, died competing in an Ironman event on Sunday.
They died in the swimming segment of the triathlon at Claycastle beach in Youghal, Co Cork.
Triathlon Ireland is reeling from the news that Ivan Chittenden & Brendan Wall, athletes in the Ironman Cork event in Youghal, tragically died yesterday morning while participating in the race.
Read statement from CEO Darren Coombes
Click the link l https://t.co/glQRIJx5g5 pic.twitter.com/psxgftWV7B— Triathlon Ireland (@tri_ireland) August 21, 2023
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Triathlon Ireland has said it did not sanction the event, but a dispute erupted on Tuesday over the timeline of when exactly they informed Ironman Ireland of this and whether it was before the race began.
Triathlon Ireland has said an investigation is ongoing, and that it would provide any assistance the authorities needed.
Gardaí are preparing a file for the attention of the Cork City coroner.
Cork County Council, the event’s host sponsor, said it was seeking a full account of the incident from Ironman Ireland.
The council said it would determine its position as the host sponsor for next year’s event once it had considered both the full account from Ironman and any coroner’s inquest.
Speaking to reporters in Lucan, Minister for Higher and Further Education Mr Harris said the thoughts of people across the country were with the family and friends of the men who had died in the “horrifically sad tragedy”.
Mr Harris said: “I think being very honest, I think some of the disagreement around facts has been unedifying to put it mildly.
“It’s really important the truth is established and there can only, obviously, be one set of facts.
“My colleague Minister Thomas Byrne has been pretty clear in relation to Sport Ireland now having the space and the opportunity to help try and ascertain some of those facts.
“And I’m also very conscious that the gardai will be preparing a file for the coroner too, so there’ll be a number of processes that are under way.”
He added: “I do think it is really important that the truth emerges, it’s really important that we move beyond statements and counter-statements and different versions and that the facts are established.”
Speaking to RTE radio, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said it was “too early” to say whether there should be a public inquiry.
She said: “This is an absolute tragedy and is devastating for all of their families. I think we need to understand what’s happened.”
Marc O Cathasaigh, a Green Party TD who has been involved in organising and taking part in triathlons, said: “I do think it’s very worrying that we have conflicting accounts from Triathlon Ireland and from the Ironman brand.”
Asked on RTE’s Morning Ireland why so many people had taken part in the event given the conditions, he said months of training was needed for the event.
“If the race gun is starting, I think there’d be very few athletes who wouldn’t step up and make that start,” he said.
In a previous life, I was pretty deeply involved with @WaterfordTri and involved in organising events for the club. If your TI Official said no, that was that, and they took that role and responsibility extremely seriously, in my experience. https://t.co/PV4FKrtKQl
— Marc Ó Cathasaigh TD (@MarcKC_Green) August 22, 2023
“And that’s why the role of people like the officials in Triathlon Ireland and within the Ironman event, it’s critical that they make those decisions – and very difficult decisions often to make – but to take those decisions in the interest of athletes’ safety.”
Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on sport Chris Andrews has called for an independent inquiry into the conditions on the day, and said Sport Ireland should take “a central role in this”.
But Mr O Cathasaigh said that the authorities needed to be given space to make an “initial determination”.
“Because, while looking at the videos, I can see that the conditions were certainly difficult, and we do know that two men lost their lives during the course of the event, but at this point, it hasn’t been clearly established that one thing is associated with the other and that’s the appropriate first step to take,” he said.
Some competitors have spoken out about the sea conditions on Sunday morning, stating that there were rolling waves 10ft to 15ft high that had thrown competitors back towards the rocks.
People reported seeing some competitors panicking in the water and others said they had stopped to assist athletes who were in distress.
