THE outcome of Ireland’s Olympic appeal, heard on Wednesday before the international Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, is expected to be released sometime in January.

Until then, nothing more can be done as Irish show jumping waits with bated breath to learn whether or not Ireland will be represented at the Rio Olympic Games.

In Lausanne, what was described as a “full and complete hearing’’ was heard of the legal case put forward by Horse Sport Ireland and Olympic bronze medallist show jumper Cian O’Connor.

The procedure is now that the CAS panel will consider the arguments before releasing what is known as an Arbitral Award in the case. The exact timeframe for this is currently unknown but reliable sources today indicated that the decision is expected to be made and publicly released in January.

HSI’s legal team for the hearing was led by senior counsel Martin Hayden, supported by barrister David Casserly, along with Joe Fitzpatrick and Eamon Carey from Smithwick Solicitors.

A CAS media spokesperson explained to The Irish Field: “During the hearing, the panel of arbitrators will hear the parties’ arguments. The panel will then deliberate and write an Arbitral Award which contains their decision and the reasoning behind it. We do not know at this stage when the Arbitral Award will be communicated to the parties.”

Show Jumping Olympic Appeal to CAS concludes in Lausanne.

DECISION TIME

Speaking after the hearing, Horse Sport Ireland chief executive officer Damian McDonald said: “We had a long hearing today. We now have to wait for the decision which we are unlikely to receive before early January.

“We won’t be making any further comment about the case until then. I want to thank our legal team of senior counsel Martin Hayden, specialist CAS counsel David Casserly, Joe Fitzpatrick and Eamon Carey from Smithwick Solicitors. Along with Cian O’Connor and his legal team, they did a top class job in preparing and presenting the case.”