Wicklow Olympians and Paralympians need to be honoured equally by the County Council

Sinn Féin councillor John Brady has welcomed the inclusion of two
Wicklow athletes in the London 2012 Paralympic Games which will take
place between 29 August and 9 September 2012. He has also called on
Wicklow County Council to make a financial contribution to the
athletes to help cover some of the costs incurred whilst representing
their County at the games. Recently Wicklow County Council made awards
of €2,500 each to the four Olympians from Wicklow who will participate
in the summer Olympics.

Cllr Brady said "Wicklow is going to be very well represented in the
Olympics and the Paralympics in London over the coming weeks, in all
we will have six athletes representing us. This is an extraordinary
achievement and i am very proud of each and everyone of them. Whilst
there is a lot of focus on the Olympics which starts on July 27th, we
must also be very proud of our Paralympians. The Paralympics are held
every four years in parallel with the Olympic Games, this is the
premier multisport event for elite athletes with a disability. The
standards are equally high for these games and are for those who reach
elite standards of performance."

Cllr Brady went onto say " Recently following a request from myself
Wicklow County Council awarded €2500 to each of the four Olympians
from Wicklow. This was unspent money from the conference budget of
2011. This was a small gesture to try help the athletes out in the run
up to the games, and i felt it would be better than another civic
reception. Now that the Irish Paralympic team for London 2012 has been
named and Wicklow has 2 athletes in the squad i am calling on the
council to make the same gesture to them."

Cllr Brady concluded " It is a fantastic achievement for any athlete
to represent their County on the largest sporting stage in the world
and for Wicklow to have six is certainly going to give us all
something to cheer for over the summer months. On Monday the Bray
Olympic Committee which i am a member of will be unveiling our planned
programme to get behind the athletes and hopefully everyone throughout
Wicklow will do likewise. I hope Wicklow County Council will treat all
our athletes equally and make an equal financial contribution to our
two Paralympian heroes."