Former swimming coach George Gibney, is being detained in America after being arrested in Florida.

The former Olympic coach is now waiting for a court appearance to see if he will be extradited to Ireland.

He was detained by US marshals on Monday on foot of an international arrest warrant on historical sexual abuse allegations.

Gibney, who's now aged his 70s, was a well known swimming coach who worked in Dublin in the 1980s and 1990s.

He left Ireland 30 years ago after he successfully halted his prosecution on previous charges involving teenage girls.

Former Irish swimming coach 6/5/1988 George Gibney © INPHO / Billy Stickland

In 1993 he was charged with 27 counts of indecency against young swimmers, and of having carnal knowledge of girls under the age of 15.

However, those charges were dropped in 1994 after he secured an injunction in the High Court against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The investigation was reopened in 2020 after several individuals made allegations on a BBC podcast.

A file was submitted to the DPP in 2023.

He’s now being held in custody pending a court appearance, which will decide whether to extradite him to face questioning here over the historical sexual abuse allegations.

In a statement on Monday night, a spokesperson said, "An Garda Síochána is aware of the arrest of a male aged in his 70s in the United States on foot of an Irish international arrest warrant.

"This is currently a matter for the US authorities.

"An Garda Síochána will not be commenting further at this time."