11-07-2025
George Gibney: US court orders extradition of former swimming coach to Ireland to face sex crime charges
A court in Florida has ordered that
George Gibney
, the former Irish Olympic swimming team coach, be handed over to the
US
Marshall's service and extradited to Ireland to face historic sex crime charges.
Judge Daniel Irick, of the Orlando Division of the District Court in Florida, made the order after receipt of an affidavit signed by the 77-year-old in which he said he had received legal advice and had decided not to challenge his extradition.
Mr Gibney asked the court 'to expedite my return, in custody, to Ireland'.
Judge Irick, in response, and after being told in open court that Mr Gibney had voluntarily decided to waive his right to an extradition hearing, ordered that he be delivered into the custody of the US Marshall's service.
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This was, he said, 'pending arrival of the duly authorised representatives of the Government of Ireland, at which time the United States Marshall shall deliver him to the custody of such representative to be transported to Ireland to be held for trial'.
The extradition of Mr Gibney, who has been in custody in Florida since July 1st, to the State will now proceed and he is likely to appear before a Dublin court in the near future.
The
Garda
Press Office has been asked for comment.
Mr Gibney is accused of 78 charges of indecent assault and one of attempted rape. The alleged victims were aged between eight and 14 or 15 years when they say they were abused by Mr Gibney, who was their swimming coach in south Dublin, at different times between 1971 and 1981.
In 1993, Mr Gibney appeared before the courts in Dublin charged with 27 sexual crimes. However, he took a High Court challenge to his prosecution and was successful. The court effectively ruled in 1994 that the allegations were too old, and many details were too vague, to warrant a prosecution.
However, legal norms and legislation have since changed in Ireland, meaning the prosecution of historical sexual crimes now regularly occurs. Suspects in historical cases no longer have the grounds they once did to avoid prosecution.
Mr Gibney left Ireland in the 1990s, settling in the US, and remained there for the past 30 years, residing in Florida in recent years.
However, between 2020 and 2022 the BBC-Second Captains podcast, entitled Where is George Gibney?, prompted the four women now accusing him to give statements to the Garda.
A fresh criminal investigation began, with the Director of Public Prosecutions directing in May 2023 that he should face 79 charges, with arrest warrants issued by the courts in Dublin.
Last October, the Irish embassy in Washington formally made a request to the US authorities to arrest Mr Gibney for the purpose of extraditing him to the Republic to stand trial.
