John Delaney has told the Olympic Council of Ireland that he is "stepping down" from his role as OCI VP, according to RTE. Delaney's decision to step down from the OCI comes on the back of a "turbulent summer" for the organization which saw its President Pat Hickey arrested by Brazilian police in relation to "alleged mis-selling of tickets for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro." A statement from Delaney "detailed his reasons for tendering his resignation." He again insisted that he had "no role or involvement in any ticketing arrangements for Rio." The statement also claimed that Delaney was "never active in the day to day running of the OCI" and that he has "fully engaged and co-operated with investigations being carried out by Grant Thornton who were appointed to review ticketing arrangements and Deloitte, whose brief is to examine governance issues within the OCI" (RTE, 10/26). The IRISH EXAMINER reported the 49-year-old has been involved with the OCI since '05 and up until as late as August he "had been tipped to eventually take over" as president of the organization. Hickey had backed Delaney to succeed him. Hickey "remains in Rio since his arrest by Brazilian police during the Olympic Games, where he is continuing to fight to clear his name" (IRISH EXAMINER, 10/25). REUTERS' Padraic Halpin reported the OCI and Irish government launched "separate independent probes" into the circumstances surrounding the distribution of tickets at the 2016 Games and Delaney said that he has "fully engaged and co-operated with both investigations." Acting OCI President Willie O’Brien said in a statement that he "accepted with regret Delaney's resignation" (REUTERS, 10/25).