A cheating scandal is now rocking the world of Irish dancing

There must be something in the air at the moment – first we had a major cheating scandal in the chess world, then in high-stakes poker and then even competitive angling.

Now, there’s a huge drama in the realm of Irish dancing.

According to the Irish Independent, some of the most prestigious Irish dancing schools and teachers have been accused of fixing competitions to benefit their own students.

Reports have emerged of the allegations of foul play, with a planned investigation set to be undertaken by An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG), the biggest and oldest official body in Irish dancing.

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The CLRG is appointing a former Irish Appeal Court judge to lead the investigation.

It comes after the publication revealed screenshots of messages sent by 12 Irish dance instructors all either requesting or offering to fix competitions. The screen shots were sent to the CLRG in July, and another six teachers are also set to be implicated by the messages.

Another huge scandal has broken, this time in Irish dancing Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

The Irish Independent stated that “in one case, a dance teacher and a competition judge appeared to be exchanging sexual favours for higher scores”.

The CLRG stated its ethics committee had “received allegations, with supporting documentation, of several grievous breaches of our Code of Conduct.”

“Such unethical behaviour cannot and will not be tolerated by this organisation,” it added.

On the investigation, the body said: “The process will no doubt be difficult and arduous, but this grossly unethical behaviour must be eliminated from our competitions, dance schools and governing organisations.

“An Coimisiún regards such breaches to be Gross Misconduct. Any registered member found to be engaged in such practices will be subject to due and full process under our published Disciplinary Procedures.”

It added: “This process has already started and the principles of natural justice apply. To ensure the integrity of the process and until it is complete, no further comments will be made.”

The newspaper said one of the dance teachers alleged to have been involved had been previously accused of interfering with scores at competitions.

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