Gareth Turnbull was cleared of the doping charge in October

Turnbull was cleared of the offence in October but was left with a bill for around �100,000 in legal costs.

His father Paddy said that the Irish Sports Council (ISC) had been "negligent at each stage" of the case.

Turnbull was not informed of the positive test for eight months, which was a breach of the ISC's own rules.

Athletics Ireland, which as national governing body had to prosecute the case against Turnbull, has said that it does not have the resources to "contribute to the costs".

The disciplinary panel which cleared Turnbull did not have the power to award costs because of existing Irish Sports Council rules.

On Thursday, BBC Sport revealed that Irish Sports Minister John O'Donoghue had turned down Turnbull's request that he should examine the handling case.

The Irish Sports Minister said that he wasn't responsible for the operations of the Irish Sports Council (ISC) which Paddy Turnbull described as an "unbelievable reaction".

"We naturally looked to the Minister to call the ISC to account for their mismanagement of Gareth's case," added Mr Turnbull.

This year the ISC received over 40 million Euro from the Minister of Sport Paddy Turnbull

Turnbull was facing a possible two-year ban after a drugs test 15 months ago showed up higher than normal levels of testosterone.

However, Turnbull was not informed of the doping charge until June of this year and he and his family then spent a "nightmarish" four months before the athlete was cleared of wrongdoing.

Replying to a letter from Paddy Turnbull, Mr O'Donoghue's private secretary Therese O'Connor said that the minister had "no role or function in the operation of the anti-doping programme".

"Neither does he have any responsiblity for the day-to-day operation of the (Irish) Sports Council which is an independent corporate body established by the Oireachtas," added the spokeswoman.

O'Donoghue did pass a copy of Paddy Turnbull's letter to the Irish Sports Council and has requested that he be provided with a copy of the reply.

In response to Mr O'Donoghue, Paddy Turnbull said that the "ISC's own governance charter says it is a state funded body".

"This year it received over 40 million Euro from the Minister of Sport.

"And in the ISC governance charter there is the following provision: 'The Members will show diligence in ensuring that the Chairperson keeps the Minister advised of important matters arising in respect of the Council'."

Turnbull's claims that he should recoup the costs spent in proving his innocence are being supported by Fine Gael spokesman on sport, Jimmy Deenihan.

If it costs an innocent athlete money to clear his or her name, the athlete should be entitled to some assistance with the medical and other fees involved Fine Gael sports spokesman Jimmy Deenihan

The former Kerry gaelic football star attempted to table a question relating to the Turnbull case in the Irish parliament last week.

The question was disallowed by the speaker but Deenihan did raise the issue in a parliamentary committee session also attended by Minister O'Donoghue.

"There is a major issue with an athlete (Turnbull) who was brought before the doping committee," said the Fine Gael spokesman.

"While he was subsequently cleared, he incurred a huge amount of expense in doing so.

"If someone had accused me of using illicit substances when I was playing football, I would have gone to all extremes to clear my name.

"If it costs an innocent athlete money to clear his or her name, the athlete should be entitled to some assistance with the medical and other fees involved."

Mr Deenihan added that the "whole process will have to be changed so that people wll be entitled to free legal aid".

"They are entitled to this in tribunals in this country so why not in this instance?"