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The Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, in conjunction with Sport Ireland (the National Agency for Sport in Ireland), has recently published Anti-Doping figures for 2015. The figures are published in the sixteenth Anti-Doping Annual Review, which provides details of the activities of the Anti-Doping Programme for the year 2015.
The National Programme Testing Statistics published in the report show that 1,028 tests were carried out, including 295 blood tests. The review also includes an analysis of the figures on a sport by sport basis. The figures show that blood testing figures increased by 5% during the period and that “user-pays” programme tests, requiring sporting organisations to pay for testing, increased by 21%. The report also shows that “in competition” tests accounted for 25% of national testing whereas “out of competition” tests accounted for the remaining 75%.
Sport Ireland was established on 1 October 2015 under the Sport Ireland Act 2015. It brings together the Irish Sports Council; the National Sports Campus Development Authority; the Irish Institute of Sport and Coaching Ireland to form an agency which retains the broad functions of the existing agencies, while strengthening the areas of anti-doping, child protection and coaching.
Sport Ireland is now recognised as the National Anti-Doping Organisation. The 2015 Act provides for the Irish Anti-Doping Rules, which facilitate information-sharing agreements with various state agencies such as the Health Products Regulatory Authority, An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners.
The annual review can be found here.
Author: Deirdre Duffy