An elderly British gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane. At the French immigration desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag. “You have been to France before, Monsieur?” the Immigration officer asked, sarcastically. The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously. “Then you should know well enough to have your passport ready.” The British gentleman says, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.” “Impossible. The British always have to show their passports on arrival in France!” The elderly gentleman gave the French Immigration Officer a long hard look. Then he quietly explained; “Well, the last time I was here, I came ashore on Juno Beach on D-Day in June 1944, and I couldn’t find any Frenchmen to show it to.”

If it’s because the athletes all told the OCI and DCC that they were knackered and wanted to see their families, that’s one thing.

If we’re not doing this because nobody will pick up the tab… well, that’s a whole other thing entirely. And I’ve a feeling that the money is the more likely explanation.

is it not that to most of the athletes ‘home’ is their own town, such as Mullingar for John Joe Nevin, or Bray for Katie Taylor? if i was one of the athletes coming back from being away for so long, whether with or without a medal, i think i would want to go back to where i live, and to be welcomed and celebrate with my family and friends in my homeplace, not be forced to parade down the main streets of Dublin which for the majority of them is not home at all.

Bray had long signalled their intention to have a homecoming event with fireworks, open top bus etc for Katie Taylor on the evening that she returned, and i’m sure other towns are the same. Would they be expected to give this up for DCC to have their event? If it was me returning home i’d be unhappy with my town having to cancel their event just for the councillors of DCC and every TD in the land to get a chance to get their photos taken with me..

Somebody should ask the athletes if they want one, if they do then grand, if they don’t that’s grand to. Congrats to everybody involved for all your hard work and dedication.

I agree wholeheartedly. The athletes should be asked what they would like, as for the disgraced comment?? disgraced would be being sent home for doping or cheating in some way.. like handling the ball in football.. thats disgrace..

These men and women done themselves and the country proud and have put their heart and souls into their sport amid poor support and funding which they deserve.

If anything the IOC should take this as a sign of good things to come and invest in these people.

We will finish roughly where gb finished in 1996 its up to up to use our funding, especially lottery funding, the way they did after that. We can easily get into the top thirty and near to twenty.

If the athletes want to go home, that’s a good reason not to have an event. Nice idea to invite them to Farmleigh. I think the argument over who would pay for an official homecoming (Dublin City Council or Irish Olympic Committee) is irrelevant.

Jean DuVal – I don’t think you understand the meaning of the word in English. It is offensive and insulting to a native English speaker.

If we really want to support our Olympic athletes, then perhaps we should attend the Stadium more often to see our boxers in domestic competitions or Santry stadium to see our track & field etc. I wonder how many people who saw Katie Taylor perform in London will go to see her fight in her next boxing match ? This is the real support our athletes want & deserve. I am guilty myself of not providing this real support, but that I hope to correct this going forward.

Just wait till the special olympics are over. You will need the army to escort them back with all the gold, silver and bronze they will bring home. Then we can have a true celebration.

I am sure all the Irish athletes will receive a great welcome and celebration when they walk through their front doors from their families and friends.

Our athletes are bringing home 5 Olympic medals, this is an achievement which should be celebrated. If more resources were put into sport then maybe our medal count would be higher in the next Olympics. As a nation we need to take competitve sport seriously and it should be encouraged far more in schools – this might also help the current rise in obesity levels if more children and adults were encouraged to participate in sports.

And there is the difference between the Irish and French. We are proud of all of them we know they all done there best.

“Dublin City Council and the Olympic Council of Ireland were unable to agree on shouldering the costs of an event in Dublin city to honour the athletes” good ole Irish always make a drama out of something simple.

What about waiting until the special Olympics are over and then having an event in Farmleigh honouring ALL the athletes?

I think the team have done ireland proud but I find it kinda ironic that having trained for years to push themselves beyond their physical and performance limits that they’re supposedly too drained to submit themselves to an afternoon of being lauded by the very people they’re representing and whose taxes have allowed them pursue their dreams.
Team Ireland is surely not just about the athletes but also about the 4 million plus people on this island
There’s a debt of gratitude owed on both sides and a celebration of some sort is in order

Just remember (trolls), that in many events the “losing” times / scores this year would have seen gold medals in previous Olympics.

Anyone capable of competing at that level deserves recognition!

This is not acceptable…. No official reception but the politicians will spend 9,000 for a day trip… the Athletes who are out flying the tricolour are fantastic ambassadors for our Nation The represented us with great pride and dedication and honour Well done lads Yea deserve better recognition congratulations to all of you

“Members of the public are requested not to come to Dublin Airport on Monday but to wait until the Wednesday event.”
That’s the line tonight. Fair enough.
Bray beach-front is going to be amazing at around 5!

On RTE earlier , mick dowling stated he spoke with Pete Taylor, he states he has never been asked or approached about an official homecoming, if that’s the case how many other haven’t been asked?
I think Sonia has also come out saying she has never been approached either!!
If it is the case that DCC and Olympic council can’t share the cost then it’s disgraceful ,,,,,,,
From a personal point of view the Irish athletes have been amazing,
To qualify for the biggest sporting event in the world and to compete has to be the biggest achievement in it self
Getting a gold , silver, bronze must surely be the bigger bonus .

If Enda Kenny and the like’s have an official bash in Farmleigh , then that’s fair enough but that’s not an event the public can take part in, for most of us that would mean watching from our sitting rooms!
If the athletes have decided they just to go straight home to their families , I can fully understand that, it’s been a long road for most of them but there a another little part of me feeling ” an official homecoming for the fans, so all the fans could so how proud they are, would probably only take another few hours! Give all the kids of our future Ireland something more to inspire to !

Laughed at by who ?? I only hear praise for the Irish fans in soccer and boxing and all our other sports. The only people that are laughing at us is people like yourself and I’m willing to put up with that

Ok, I am as proud of the effort that the athletes have put in but I feel that the Irish public really need to grow up as regards when and what should be celebrated.

In this instance we performed moderately at best and I would think it completely inappropriate to parade the athletes through the streets to feed the need for some immature ‘fans’ to go out wearing the green, gettin’ pissed and generally acting like children. That’s what’s embarrassing.

Seriously, I thought Euro ’88 and Italia ’90 would have seen us grow out of this behaviour?

Its understandable team Ireland would want to rush home to their families & friends after spending a month away from their loved ones, but its another thing for Farmleigh House & our selfish Government to stick its nose in and hijack our heros official homecoming, “a photo op” for Kenny and Co, being the source of this truly ignorant decision made by Enda and his Wife. The Good People of Ireland should now make their voices heard by condemning such selfishness.

Well done katie taylor but a national home coming is a bit much. Im very surprised at the wagonist councillors and TDs by not organising one

not a great message to send out to the youth and to future Olympians, sorry but we barely have the funding to get you there and we certainly not have the funding to throw a celebration if you actually do well. to be honest, its only a silly headline to steer us away from the truth, we don’t have the bobs!!! disgraceful if you ask me, even Grenada will be celebrating their first ever medal.

the last time we got five was 1956, come on like bad excuse, ever country will have a celebration but our poor athletes are tired, who the hell are the gullible ones? a weeks rest should suffice…

Well after all the hot air of the past few days on this site, RTE report that an event will be held on Wednesday.

Try this http://www.medalspercapita.com.

1 medal per 900,000 people that puts us 18th in the world. Better than most and better than you know who.

I commend the decision makers behind the decision to NOT have a celebration. Ireland hardly made a mark at the Olympics except for Katie Taylor and to parade disgraced athletes in front of the masses of people in the street would be silly.

we should celebrate the medal winners and the atheletes that set Personal or Seasonal bests in the Olympics but to celebrate somebody who finishes 20th and is delighted or somebody who finishes 5th in her heat and a full 15 metres behind the winner then claims this was her plan all along and in her opinion exceded her goals is crazy. Dont forget our football team played in the Euros and all we talked about was the fans but if you gave out about the team you were called a whinger and we should be happy to be talking part. Celebrate winning but equally dont just except failure.

http://shoehasnews.blogspot.ie/?view=magazine

My winners and losers of the London 2012 Olympics. Check it and comment!

LAURA REYNOLDS HAS expressed her satisfaction after finishing 20th in the women’s 20km walk today, saying she was “absolutely delighted” with the outcome.

That is actually what one of the Irish atheletes said……….

Humiliatingly enbarrassing, the only people in the world who celebrate losing and losers

Meh !! Don’t mean to be cynical but the only real truth here is that the city can’t afford it and the rest is just clever PR spin to prevent any backlash !! I’m sure some athletes would like to go home but I’m also sure that some athletes would like to celebrate after all the hard work they have done!! bit manipulative on the governments part if you ask me! Anyway what better way to prevent this being a negative story the to say it was athletes idea :)

What an ungrateful bunch,
They were funded by the Irish people to
Attend and they should have good manners to show up for whatever lame
Event homecoming is planned.