Separate versions of events in the lead-up to the Ironman event in Cork over the weekend have emerged.
Triathlon Irelands claims its officials did not give the go-ahead for the swimming race, in which two participants died, on Sunday morning, given the adverse conditions.
However, Ironman Ireland says it was not informed of that decision until hours after the race was over.
It carried out its own safety assessment and deemed the conditions were safe enough to proceed.
Senior reporter with the Irish Examiner, Eoin English says, as organisers, Ironman Ireland is ultimately responsible for the event.
'Cork County Council, who are one of the main sponsors came out very clearly with a statement and said that all of the responsibility for the organisation of the event rests entirely with the Ironman group that's it's a commercially run private company and that's why they had input from federation representatives including triathlon Ireland. The ultimate decision on whether to go ahead with this or not rested with Ironman.'
