The Athens Review, a report into the success of Ireland at the 2004 games, called for substantial, sustained and targeted investment over many years to ensure Olympic and Paralympic success.

The study claimed Ireland should aim for between six and nine finalists at Olympic level and between 12 and 15 finalists at Paralympic level.

It claimed Irish sport needed a restructuring of funding for top athletes and a more cohesive partnership between sporting bodies in order to compete at a higher level.

The review noted that expectations for the Athens Games in 2004 were over-ambitious and lacking in focus.

Mr O’Donoghue said in hindsight some sports were perhaps expecting too much in their targets for Athens.

“It benefits no-one to set unattainable goals, no matter how sincere the motivation,” he said.

The Athens Review concluded that both Olympic and Paralympic teams were the best supported ever but that a greater concentration of support was needed for athletes who had realistic prospects of achieving success.

Mr O’Donoghue said another leap forward was needed in the run up to Beijing 2008 as other countries were not waiting for us to catch-up.

“We have invested substantially in sport but we started behind others and it will take time to catch up,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

“We need to think and plan long in our athletes support strategies. That is the correct way to go, but it will not produce instant dividends.”

Mr O’Donoghue said more than €130m had been set out to develop new sporting infrastructure in the 2005 Budget estimates.

The report compiled by UK sports consultants, Wharton Consulting and chaired by Dan Flinter, former Enterprise Ireland chairman – found that 29 recommendations made in the wake of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 were fully or partially carried out.

Mr Flinter said investment decisions in high performance sport were fundamentally sound, but competitor nations had been putting up the money for longer.

“With the experience gained, especially over the past two years, Ireland now needs to step up to the next level in how it invests, supports and prepares for competition at the highest international level,” Mr Flinter said.

Mr O’Donoghue added that he was awaiting advice from the Sports Council on the recommendations of the review. The Government will also discuss new initiatives to support the development of athletes.

The report also called for an Institute of Sport to be set up emphasising strength, conditioning, medical and physiotherapy and lifestyle management for elite athletes.

And it said sporting bodies had to insist on building from the bottom, for the future by focusing on talented junior athletes with consistent investment and support.

The Athens Review also noted that systems put in place following the Sydney Review had brought substantial improvements, it called for those systems to continue to operate ahead of the Beijing Games in 2008.