Apologies have been received from Senator Malcolm Noonan.

Today's meeting has been convened for the committee's engagement on Boxing Ireland's organisational structure and an update on governance, corporate and sporting policies.

From the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, I welcome Mr. Ciarán Shanley, principal officer, sports policy, and Mr. Colin Layde, assistant principal officer, sport policy unit. From Boxing Ireland, I welcome Mr. Anto Donnelly, president, Mr. Gary Stewart, CEO, and Ms Clare McAuley, COO. From Sport Ireland, I welcome Dr. Úna May, CEO and Mr. Paul McDermott, director for high performance and national governing bodies.

The format of this meeting is such that I will invite the witnesses to deliver an opening statement, which is limited to three minutes. Statements will then be followed by questions from members of the committee and as the witnesses are probably aware, the committee may publish the opening statements and presentations on its webpage.

Before we move to today's discussion, I wish to clarify some limitations in relation to parliamentary privilege and the practice of the Houses as regards references witnesses may make to other persons in their evidence. The evidence of witnesses physically present or who give evidence from within the parliamentary precincts is protected pursuant to both the Constitution and statute by absolute privilege in respect of presentations they make to the committee. This means that they have an absolute defence against any defamation action for anything they say at the meeting. However, they are expected not to abuse this privilege, and it is my duty as Chair to ensure that it is not abused. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I invite the witnesses to deliver their opening statements.

I thank the committee for its invitation to address it this afternoon.

Boxing is an important sport for Ireland. It is our most successful Olympic sport, responsible for approximately half our medals. It is a sport that reaches across the entire island and is particularly important in reaching out to communities and areas that typically engage less in organised sport. It is certainly a sport that the Department is supportive of and we hope to see a sizable increase in boxing applications under the next round of the community sport facilities fund, which the Minister hopes to announce soon.

Boxing Ireland has been in a period of reform, with significant support from Sport Ireland. Internationally, the sport has been in tumult for a number of years but the establishment of World Boxing as the new international federation for the sport has provided a framework for improved international governance of the sport and has secured its place at the Olympics. All of this has, no doubt, been a challenge for a small national governing body such as Boxing Ireland to manage.

Boxing Ireland – like all national governing bodies for sport, which represent over 13,000 sports clubs throughout the country – is an independent autonomous organisation and, as such, is responsible for the governance of its sport in Ireland. This reflects international standards and practices, recognising the importance of the autonomy of sporting organisation in managing their own sports, from grassroots level to high-performance.

Notwithstanding this, Sport Ireland is charged with supporting development and good conduct within the sporting sector. In this regard, Sport Ireland provides a wide array of governance supports and guidance for the sporting sector, in particular for national governing bodies of sport and local sports partnerships.

Chief among these is the governance code for sport, compliance with which is a condition for funding from Sport Ireland for national governing bodies of sport and local sports partnerships. Sport Ireland also provides a range of hands-on training and support for sporting organisations on governance matters and promotes the exchange of best practices between sporting organisations. As part of this, it is important to note the great strides that have taken place in sports governance in Ireland in recent years. The establishment of Sport Ireland in 2015 and the implementation of the National Sports Policy 2018-2027 have played key roles in fostering a professional sporting administration ecosystem in this regard.

That is not to say that there is no room for improvement. The governance of Irish sport will be a key topic of focus in the context of the next ten-year national sports policy, which is currently commencing development. In relation to this, the Department will soon be commencing a targeted sectoral consultation with sporting organisations as part of a range of consultative processes that will feed into the development of the next national sports policy. I encourage all stakeholders to engage with this process.

Looking forward, the Department will continue to work with Sport Ireland and other key stakeholders across the sporting sector, including boxing, to support good governance and best practice, building on the support measures already in place through Sport Ireland. More broadly, the Government is committed to a sport-for-all approach, aimed at ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to partake equally in sport and physical activity, regardless of gender, age, socio-economic status, disability or membership of minority groups such as the LGBTI+ community, the Traveller community or other ethnic minorities.

The welfare of everyone at all levels of sport, regardless of age, is a shared responsibility. As such, activity to improve welfare in sport has not stood still in recent years. In August 2023, Sport Ireland launched a new national code of conduct template for sporting organisations. The code sets out guidelines and principles promoting the behaviours and conduct expected from athletes, coaches, parents and guardians, supporters, referees and officials, and all club members. All national governing bodies, NGBs, are expected to use this template code of conduct as an opportunity to review their existing policies and procedures for handling code breaches to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all involved in Irish sport. Sport Ireland has also engaged Safe Sport International to conduct a needs analysis regarding adult welfare issues in sport, and the Department expects work like this to feed into the development of the next national sports policy.

Moreover, as the committee will be aware, following media reporting on issues relating to Rowing Ireland, the Minister and Minister of State have launched a review into the organisational culture of Rowing Ireland’s high-performance programme, and Amanda Bennett, an expert in sports governance, has been appointed to conduct the review. It is expected that the review will conclude by the end of the year. As the Ministers have said, the review represents an opportunity to strengthen not just how Rowing Ireland responds to safeguarding issues in the future but also to embed best practice in the Irish sports sector more broadly, including in the context of the next national sports policy.

Ultimately, while challenges remain, governance throughout the sports sector has significantly improved over recent years thanks to the work of Sport Ireland and the tireless work of professional and volunteer sports administrators up and down the country. The Department will continue to support Sport Ireland and the sector in promoting and fostering fair play, respect, ethics, integrity and safety throughout the entire sports ecosystem. Go raibh maith agaibh.

I thank the members of the committee for the invitation to appear before them today to demonstrate the progress Boxing Ireland has made in building an organisation better equipped to serve our clubs, athletes and communities across this island and to update them on the progress we have made related to our corporate governance.

Our success in the ring is admired around the world. Boxing continues to deliver performances that inspire national pride and showcase the resilience, skill and determination synonymous with Irish sport. We are proud that our athletes have inspired generations of children to participate in sport. We are proud that the most high-profile sporting event in Ireland this year will feature a global sporting icon produced by our community. We are proud to be the nation’s most successful Olympic sport.

However, our greatest achievement extends beyond medals. Every evening, thousands of volunteers across 370 boxing clubs nationwide, often in the most disadvantaged and underprivileged areas of our society, provide safe, inclusive and welcoming environments, where children and young people develop confidence, discipline, physical fitness, respect and, most importantly, resilience. In today’s world, these foundational values are vital. Few organisations reflect the diversity of our society in the way boxing does. Within our clubs, people from all backgrounds train and compete side by side. On an increasingly diverse island, our clubs quietly demonstrate the power of inclusion, mutual respect and shared purpose. Irish communities are better with boxing clubs.

Sustainable sporting success must be underpinned by strong governance, modern systems and a culture of continuous improvement. We recognise that public trust is earned. Good governance is about advancing an organisation which our members, funders and society trust to make fair decisions, protect its athletes, support its clubs and steward public funding responsibly. That understanding has shaped our work over recent years, as we have undertaken a significant programme of organisational transformation. We have made strong progress. We know we have more to do, but we have mapped the governance road ahead.

Across the organisation, we have invested considerable effort in modernising our corporate governance arrangements, including the development of a range of new policies, the imminent achievement of governance code compliance and the conclusion of the MacNeice report recommendations. Within our high-performance programme, athlete welfare has become a central pillar of our approach. We have strengthened safeguarding, integrity and welfare policies, appointed a dedicated athlete welfare lead and continued to invest in structures that better support athletes and coaches throughout the performance pathway.

Equally important has been the work undertaken to strengthen our organisational structure. This includes the creation of a new governance, policy and operations department, and the establishment of a commercial and marketing department to help generate sustainable revenues to support our good work. A permanent CEO, performance director and chief operations officer have also been appointed. We have recently recruited individuals highly skilled in their fields, both independent and from our community, to sit on newly established board subcommittees in areas such as HR, commercial, fundraising and corporate governance. We have restructured our development department to be more focused on club support and participation. The success of our sport is built on the work of our clubs. Our most significant governance action in recent years, taken with the mandate of our members, has been the disaffiliation from the International Boxing Association, IBA, and the joining of World Boxing to secure our Olympic future. None of these developments happened overnight, nor are they truly complete. We remain committed to continuous improvement, learning from best practice both nationally and internationally, as we continue to strengthen the organisation.

Looking ahead, our priorities are clear. We will embed governance excellence across the organisation, grow participation and enhance our reputation as a modern, progressive and successful governing body. The upcoming community sports facilities fund is a key enabler for our clubs to grow and serve their communities more. We have a clear aim to treble the investment in boxing clubs from the previous funding round and get important taxpayers’ money into the communities that need it most. Furthermore, we wish to open dialogue with Government Departments outside of Sport Ireland. Our clubs provide a community service that can add further value to the vital work of Government agencies in areas such as crime prevention, health improvement and education. We are uniquely placed to contribute more.

We take this opportunity to thank the Government, the Department of sport and Sport Ireland for their ongoing support. We are proud that our athletes inspire the nation, proud of the role our clubs play in the community, and proud of the positive impact our volunteers have on young people across the island. Go raibh maith agaibh.

I thank the committee for the opportunity to discuss Sport Ireland's engagement with Boxing Ireland in the areas of governance, policies and organisational structure. Sport Ireland is the statutory body with responsibility for the development of sport under the Sport Ireland Act 2015. Our remit is broad and reflects the scale and complexity of the Irish sporting system. Under section 8 of the Act, Sport Ireland's functions include: developing participation and high performance sport; eliminating doping is sport; supporting the development of coaching; providing guidelines of child safeguarding and developing the Sport Ireland campus.

We operate within a wider ecosystem that includes over 60 autonomous national governing bodies, NGBs, of sport, 29 sports partnerships and ten other funded bodies. These organisations lead, regulate and deliver their sports at grassroots and high performance levels. Sport Ireland empowers and supports them through investment, guidance and sector-wide capacity building.

Boxing Ireland was formed in 1911 and is the all-Ireland NGB for Ireland's most successful Olympic sport. Boxing Ireland has over 360 boxing clubs embedded in communities, with a membership of over 25,000 and a strong volunteer base that is committed to the sport. Boxing is a sport that reaches many from underrepresented communities. Boxing Ireland is in receipt of funding for core investment, high performance, women in sport, dormant accounts funding and other strategic funding streams. Boxing demonstrates strong potential to deliver across all headings of the national sports policy, including participation, inclusion, volunteering, coach development, community engagement and high performance success. Boxing is one of Ireland's most successful Olympic sports, delivering athletes who compete at the highest level over a sustained period. High performance programme funding for Boxing Ireland has increased from €870,000 in 2020 to €1.18 million in 2025. Boxing Ireland has been restructuring its high performance programme through new performance leadership, revised athlete selection systems, clearer performance planning and closer links between clubs and elite programmes.

Most recently and notably, Boxing Ireland appointed an athlete-welfare lead to support performance-level boxers. This is welcomed by Sport Ireland. Boxing Ireland is a key tenant of the high performance community on the Sport Ireland campus and the redevelopment of the Sport Ireland, which has been approved by Government, is progressing and will increase capacity and support services for all boxers. The continued world class success of Irish female boxers combined with targeted investment in women's participation, coaching and leadership has helped establish boxing as a strong example of how sport can create opportunities for women and girls at every level. Since 2005, Sport Ireland has delivered substantial investment under our women in sport policy, supporting NGBs to grow participation, leadership, coaching and visibility.

Boxing Ireland receives significant women in sport funding to advance women's boxing and implement programmes aligned to the four pillars of the national policy. Our responsibilities also extend to ensuring strong governance standards across the sector. Sport Ireland requires all funded bodies to adopt and comply with the governance code for sport. The IABA self declared compliance with the code, in line with the national sports policy deadline of December 2021. Sport Ireland challenged the basis of the declaration, as several of the recommended practices were not, in Sport Ireland's view, in place at the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, IABA. The McNeice report, completed in 2022, confirmed that view. It was subsequently accepted by Boxing Ireland that more work needed to be done to meet the standards expected under the code.

Despite governance improvements arising in the intervening period, there remain a number of practices relating to the code that Boxing Ireland is in the process of adopting. Sport Ireland continues to engage regularly with Boxing Ireland's executive team to support this process. The new leadership in Boxing Ireland is making steady progress and is demonstrating commitment to adopt the required governance practices by the end of 2026. Continued funding from Sport Ireland is conditional on progress towards full adherence.

In recognition of the progress made, core investment funding continues to be released on a controlled, quarterly basis, subject to enhanced monitoring and reporting requirements. As part of our internal audit plan, Sport Ireland has scheduled an in-depth governance audit of Boxing Ireland in 2027. This will test how Boxing Ireland is implementing the governance code in practice.

Ultimately, Sport Ireland's objective is to support Boxing Ireland in delivering a sport that is well-governed, financially sustainable, athlete-centred and rooted in communities across Ireland. We recognise the progress that has been made while also acknowledging that organisational development is an ongoing process requiring continued commitment and leadership.

I am joined by my colleague, Mr. Paul McDermott, director of national governing bodies and high performance. We welcome the committee's interest in boxing and we are available to answer any questions regarding our relationship with Boxing Ireland. Go raibh maith agaibh.

I welcome the witnesses and their opening statements. I am delighted this day has come. We have looked for it for a number of years, following the discussions we had in the previous committee a number of years ago. Unfortunately, it took this committee to bring a lot of the issues to the fore at the time within the IABA. Sport Ireland did not cover itself in glory during that period when it appeared before the committee, defending what was indefensible at the time, regarding how boxing was run in Ireland. It was only that Deputy Malcolm Byrne and I continued to push and highlight it that led to changes in the organisation, with, ultimately, a new CEO and a new chairperson of the board. It is refreshing to hear the plans being outlined for boxing. I can hear the passion in them. A lot of stuff was outlined but this stuff was being highlighted by this committee and the previous administration was backed by Sport Ireland and the Department. The grassroots were not being listened to. Elite people at the top were being listened to. For any sporting organisation, it is about its roots and community and serving community on the ground. That is the way Sport Ireland should be working with all organisations.

The true success of any organisation is the benefit it brings for communities across the country. It is not measured in medals. Yes, we support our athletes when they win medals but it is about the community dividend to every parish and town in the country. I will be parochial now and mention Andrew Nugent, a young lad from Longford, whom I sponsor. He is a young boxer who recently won at the Four Nations Championship in Edinburgh. I know his family and the community in Longford and I am proud to have supported him from a young age to winning titles. That is the way we measure the benefit in every community.

I ask Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Stewart to comment on where the organisation is going and what they see Boxing Ireland bringing to the fore in each community.

I want to ask the representatives of the Department about the community sports fund that has been announced. We have highlighted to the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, that in the past it was difficult for boxing clubs to access funding because of titles on properties and non-ownership when they were renting halls and so on. We brought that to him to make adjustments in that scheme. I know it is coming in the next week or two, potentially. What changes will be made in that regard?

Where is Sport Ireland now versus where it was three years ago regarding Boxing Ireland?

That is a very relevant question. Where I am coming from is that I am not only the president of the association but I also continue to coach. I will be coaching this evening when I go back to Dundalk. From a coaching and a club perspective, I always ask the question: what is success? We ask athletes, coaches and everyone outside the sport that question and they mention the Olympic Games, medals, world titles and Irish titles. A successful club should really be measured as a building block of the association and there are 370 of them. Success should be measured by how many names are in the sign-in book, how many Mercedes are in the car park next to a rusty bike and how the club perceives and welcomes minority groups. Integration and diversity are what boxing is all about. I measure success by a kid reaching their potential. They may never win a fight but they reach their potential. The success of boxing depends on boxing clubs, the building blocks of the association and creates an Olympic athlete standing on a podium every four years. The public and the Government, all funding agencies and everybody outside boxing are there to applaud them, and rightly so, because they are the role models for our kids coming through. The success of the clubs is how they benefit their communities. It is an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is above the water where everybody can see, but under the iceberg, there are only anecdotal accounts from coach to coach or parents to coaches about how well Johnny is doing and how his confidence is growing and how well we integrate A, B and C. Boxing is the only sport the Traveller community engages with. That is one example. We are educators in the club every night and we are nutritionists.

We have anti-obesity programmes that, unbeknownst to ourselves. we were running. We are raising physical activity levels and educating everyone within that building on a nightly and on a voluntary basis. We do this because we care. We need support. We need the organisational support around us and we need to feel valued. We have to remember where boxing clubs are located. They are located in low socio-economic areas and areas of high-risk lifestyle choice. We are in the trenches of society. If we get more funding, perhaps from outside agencies, we can help improve that society, improve that area and improve the people who use it. It is not all about boxing and creating medals. It is about improving life.

I thank the Deputy. The next round of the community sports facilities fund is due to open shortly. The exact make-up of it will be advertised and publicised around that time. Regarding boxing, as I said in the opening statement, the Department is very hopeful that there will be an increase in boxing applications under the next round. We have met Boxing Ireland in this regard to see what supports can be made available to increase the number of applications and potentially then the number of successful applications.

I look on that very positively so, that there will be changes that will leave it more amenable for clubs to apply.

From Sport Ireland's point of view the transformation of the organisation speaks for itself. We are very happy with the transformation that has been made from the time the original MacNeice report was established and the commitments that Boxing Ireland made to addressing its recommendations. It has already addressed 80% of the recommendations in the MacNeice report and is anticipating completing the recommendations by the end of this year. We see a significant transformation in the organisation. Mr. McDermott may want to add to that.

I thank the Deputy for the question. Obviously, Boxing Ireland has moved on very significantly on the back of the last number of years. The diligent implementation of recommendations in various reviews, the move from an interim CEO, new leadership, a new CEO, the recruitment of COO and a new performance director, bring new ideas to whole community of boxing. I think that is fair and that point was made that it brings the clubs and everybody within Irish boxing together. That is notable. We are meeting on a regular basis in a very positive collective way to make sure all that is outstanding in terms of the code of governance and all the other issues are being addressed. We have a very good relationship. We just want to acknowledge progress that has been made. Mr. Donnelly is doing an excellent job. It is very important in terms of bringing the whole community of boxing together - clubs and the very important all-island sport aspect. It is very important that it is acknowledged what boxing does for cross-community and social inclusion right across the island. We are very happy with the progress that has been made. It remains a challenging environment for all the reasons we know. The governing bodies are challenged, but it is important to take the opportunity today to acknowledge the progress that has been made recently. The senior executives who are here with us today have not been in post for a very long time but they are already taking up the baton and are driving very substantial change under Mr. Donnelly's leadership. I want to acknowledge that.

I thank all of our witnesses. I acknowledge there have been significant improvements in some of the concerns we had before. I can see from boxing clubs within my own area how successful they are. Yes, part of it is about winning medals but it is also about participating, often with kids who may not be involved in any other sports getting involved locally. I will highlight Gorey Boxing Club and Kayleigh Byrne, who is a young boxer. I think we will hear a lot more about her. Not alone is she a really good boxer, she is an incredible role model within our community. She was the grand marshal for our local St. Patrick's Day parade. As a young woman and as a role model in sport encouraging people into boxing and into the boxing club, she has been phenomenal. That is the sort of model we want to continue to see develop.

I have two very specific questions around Boxing Ireland. It has an interim head coach at the moment. We are obviously moving closer towards the Olympics and I wondered whether there is an issue as to when a head coach may actually be appointed. An issue that has been raised in a number of the boxing clubs I am familiar with is the change of affiliation structure, which has effectively meant that some boxing clubs are paying a lot more. I get that Boxing Ireland is talking about individual membership but this is a cost on some of the clubs. The witnesses might answer both of those questions but in general, I congratulate Boxing Ireland on the progress it has made.

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate that support. First, to address the head coach position, our head coach over the past ten or 11 years, and 13 years before that, stepped down in November. It is fair to say there has been a lot of instability in a high-performance programme in the last five to seven years. We took the decision in consultation with the athletes that stability and consistency is really important. We appointed a previous assistant head coach on an interim basis so we could plan 2026 out and give the athletes that stability and plan. Recruitment for the head coach role will open before the end of July. The job description is in draft at the moment, I believe.

Yes, it is on my desk.

Then, that will be going out to being advertised, with an appointment likely after the European Championships in September.

That is very welcome. One of the issues was the use of Abbotstown and the potential for more use, particularly with juveniles. Are there plans to make Abbotstown more available?

Yes. At the moment our under-19 team uses the high-performance unit on the Sport Ireland Campus in Blanchardstown. That is pretty much every weekend up until the European championships in August. There are rules around underage athletes using the centre, which we understand and respect, but our under-19s and our under-23 pathway athletes will be in there on a regular basis.

I did not answer the Deputy's question about the individual membership. That is something we are consulting with at the moment. Pretty much all - or a lot of them - national governing bodies in Ireland would have an individual affiliation fee. Hockey Ireland launched its today. One of the ideas on which are consulting with clubs, our county boards and provinces and central council next week is about introducing an individual affiliation fee to directly fund our pathway programme. We need to resource our pathway to give young boxers like Kayleigh the Deputy mentioned, the support and opportunity to go from being a really successful domestic underage athlete to give her a pathway to go on to be a high-performance athlete. If we do bring in the individual affiliation, it will be with the consent of members and that funding will be ring-fenced specifically for youth development.

I thank Mr. Stewart. I will go to the Department to follow on with the discussion around sports capital, which is welcome. An issue we have raised regularly is a lot of clubs do not have access to a physical premises. My understanding, certainly when we spoke with the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, was that if it is a points-based system, regard would be had to clubs that are operating in disadvantaged areas in particular. Mr. Shanley may be able to elaborate on that further. The other issue is around how we can assist those clubs - it does not just apply to boxing - where they do not have a physical premises. We have talked about municipal facilities and so on, but if you do not have the hall it can be very difficult to make the offering. Will he elaborate on how the Department is progressing on plans in that area?

In the ranking of applications and things like that, the Department uses a range of measures including the Pobal HP deprivation index to assess applications. Access to facilities is a particular challenge for a lot of sports, particularly smaller and indoor sports. Encouraging and pursuing the municipal model is one way that is a medium-term solution to that particular issue. Of course, there are shorter-term issues for many sports that were trying to support and move through this. The difficulty is that the community sports facilities fund and the large-scale sports infrastructure fund, besides the equipment grants, are linked to either long-term leases or to land ownership and it is difficult to fully move away from that kind of model.

One of the challenges I often find with some sports is around capacity building. It is very easy for a sports club in whatever code that has an established premises and an experienced committee with people used to filling in forms. I know there has been engagement with Boxing Ireland but are there further moves on capacity building with clubs at a local level to be able to access some of the resources?

In terms of the community sports facility fund, the team in Killarney engages with sports clubs and national governing bodies on how to make applications and it will also be available to engage regarding the making of applications once the fund becomes available again.

I appreciate this and I have always found the Department to be very helpful, along with the Minister in terms of being out and about, but it is critical to support clubs in their capacity building. This applies to boxing and other sports. It is very easy for an experienced committee secretary who has a background of filling in forms and using the OSCAR system but for somebody applying for the first time, we need to be proactive in providing supports.

That goes to the broader question on capacity building in sports organisations altogether, and particularly sports organisations that are volunteer led. I am aware that Sport Ireland recently produced its sectoral workforce plan document. It is a significant part of the national sports policy. It will become a bigger part again of the next national sports policy as we continue to professionalise sports administration around the country and bring in professional standards.

I thank the witnesses for being here and for their opening statements. For the benefit of my committee colleagues, this is the last of the sporting meetings I will cover because our new TD, Deputy Ennis, will cover sport for us as a party from now on. I love governance so I am glad to be in for this for my final sporting meeting.

I will start with Boxing Ireland and my first question has less to do with governance. Mr. Donnelly's answers already have been music to my ears. It is really inspiring to hear mention of the Traveller community in particular and the emphasis on inclusion and community participation, which, as he has outlined, is such an important part of the balance we need to achieve as a State, as clubs, as national governing bodies and for everything else related to sporting infrastructure and sports funding. Mr. Donnelly spoke about how, up and down the country, clubs provide a space for new people in the ring in many of our most disadvantaged areas. My first question will be about funding and then I will move on to gender. In terms of funding, with the issues in 2022 and the big gap between core funding and high performance, what basic funding is now going into the clubs to operate? Is Boxing Ireland able to tell us the average amount of funding it gives to community clubs?

With regard to funding for clubs at grassroots level, it is the national governing body that gets the funding.

Yes.

By and large, clubs like my own beg, steal and borrow.

Boxing Ireland does not divert funding to individual clubs.

It will filter down in relation to running championships, international teams and camps, but directly to a club-----

The only time we will do that is if we are running a specific programme, such as a women's spar programme, an EDI programme or a disability inclusion programme, whereby we would commission a club to deliver some work on behalf of the governing body. The core funding received from Sport Ireland of €625,000 per year to cover our administrative costs is not something that gets passed on.

Clubs really survive on fundraising by their own committees. We do not have the vast fundraising committees that the big three sports may have or the sponsorship opportunities. We survive and we continue to survive. We have to remember where boxing clubs are situated by and large. The income to keep it going that comes in from those particular communities is very low. The funding that clubs get does not match the amount of passion, enthusiasm and guidance going the other way.

It is important to add that given the nature of the sport, the insurance premium for our clubs is very high. At the moment we have a club affiliation fee that each club pays per year, which is €695. This comes into us and literally goes straight out to the insurance broker. I suggest this is probably one of the highest insurance fees and club affiliation fees in the country. We have managed to make a saving on it through a renegotiation on our insurance last year, and we reduced it from €735 to €695. I hope that with our improved corporate governance, we can continue to get the insurance premium down to help our clubs in this regard. It is a huge outgoing for the clubs, many of which have 20, 25 or 30 members.

I will move on to gender balance. This is a sport where we have had huge success and achievement with our women boxers, with Kellie and Katie primary among them. I know a lot has been done to address the participation balance. I think the participation ratio is 70:30 at the moment. Is that right?

It is probably slightly under 30%.

Is Boxing Ireland trying to get to 50:50? If so, what is being done to try to get to that point in terms of participation?

We run specific programmes. There is growing participation among women and girls from a boxing perspective and from a coaching, referee and judge perspective. From a governance leadership perspective, that is one of our key priorities. We are running a number of programmes, for example-----

Does the 70:30 ratio apply across all of these? Her Sport has been very strong on helping us understand equality in participation and that parity in sport has to happen at every level. From my understanding, the 70:30 ratio is with regard to participation for athletes. Is that right?

That is participation, yes.

I apologise for interrupting Mr. Stewart but what is Boxing Ireland doing specifically to get to 50:50? Is achieving that part of its strategic goals?

It is part of our strategic goal. It is in the In Your Corner strategic plan. One of the things we established under Mr. Donnelly's leadership last year was the creation of a women's commission. It has been specifically tasked in its terms of reference to work with the community to understand where the barriers are and put in place programmes to try to overcome them. One of the ideas it has come up with is the creation of a specific women and girls box cup for all levels. This would not be for just the top boxers in a club but for novices, beginners, intermediate and experienced boxers, really making an event that celebrates their contribution and provides more opportunities. It is the same from a competition pathway perspective, with more championships. Next year we hope to launch a regional development centre programme, for want of better phrase. We will probably rename it to something else. Within this, the provinces will be mandated that there must be gender balance in the intake of boys and girls equally.

On an adjacent area, I was looking at the TENI listing of national governing bodies that support trans participation in sport. I would like clarification on Boxing Ireland's specific policy and any comments the witnesses might have on the global conversation around trans participation in sport and specifically boxing.

The rules and regulations from our international federation are very clear that boxing is sex-at-birth based. Males born male at birth compete in that category and females born female at birth compete in the female category. That is very much on a health and safety basis. Boxing is-----

Does Boxing Ireland have an opportunity to express its opinion as a member affiliate body to the global governing body on this issue?

There is a world congress every year where we can bring issues to the table. It is not something that we have raised. It is important to remember that boxing as a sport is categorised by weight and that is an important part of boxing. It is not something that has been on the agenda. It has been pretty widely accepted. Ms McAuley would like to add a comment.

Recently we gained a diversity mark from the Irish Centre for Diversity. This involved surveying all our members, our senior management team and our staff and looking at all of our policies and procedures. We will go to phase 2 of this shortly to gain a silver award. That will involve making sure we are looking at the trans community. We are quite a new senior leadership team and this is one of the issues on the agenda. As Mr. Stewart said, we are led by world boxing rules. These are more around the high-performance side of things also.

Exactly, yes.

There are development opportunities in terms of running different types of programmes, and it does not have to be non-contact. This is the social side of boxing we are referring to.

Sometimes, the boxing community is quite focused on high performance, but as the Deputy can tell from Mr. Donnelly today, we recognise the social impact it can have across all types of communities. That is not to say we cannot run other styles of development programmes around that as well. It is something we will look at.

Great. I encourage Boxing Ireland to engage. The Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI, is amazing on this. As Mr. Stewart described, the reality is that it is gated, so surely within that we can created safe spaces for people of all genders to compete. There is a lot of exclusion of the transgender community. We had a brilliant audiovisual room briefing where we heard from people. This is, as was described, where people get the opportunity to be their whole selves and connect with others, so I encourage Boxing Ireland to do as much as it can in that area of work.

I thank the witnesses for coming.

I will start with the MacNeice or Government review that was done a few years ago. It is important to note where Boxing Ireland has come from when we talk about where it is today. In 2022, it was not added to the register of compliant organisations by Sport Ireland. That was a low point for the organisation. I understand that there have been a huge number of changes, that 80% of the MacNeice report recommendations have been implemented and the remainder will be by the end of the year. I see real progress in that and I acknowledge the hard work that has gone into getting to this stage. However, it is coming from a low base with being non-compliant.

I will turn to the community sports facilities fund. There are 370-odd boxing clubs in the country. Is that just in the Republic or does it include Northern Ireland?

It is all-island.

The equipment aspect of the community sports facilities fund, as it is now called - it was the sports capital and equipment fund - had a cap of €70,000 last time. How many boxing clubs applied for funding?

Off the top of my head - I am not clear - I think it was in the mid-20s. I do not know whether Mr. Shanley has the detail, but I can come back to the Deputy.

Every boxing club in the country should be applying for and availing of that funding. It was €70 million three rounds ago. Then it was €170 million and the last round was €270 million, so it is a significant pot of money. More than 3,000 clubs benefited. I ask Boxing Ireland to make sure it highlights to all of the boxing clubs the equipment aspect and the capital infrastructure part because changes are being made that will allow a lot of boxing clubs that might not own their premises but have a long-term lease to avail of infrastructure benefits.

On that point, we have been working on pre-empting the announcement of the scheme. I have probably sent a dozen emails to clubs. At every provincial council meeting I go to, it is added on that this is coming. We have written to county boards, provincial councils and clubs to ask them to consider whether they will be ready to put in a regional application, which could get us up to €500,000 or €600,000. We are going through a process internally at the moment. We are coming up with a scoring matrix to assess the capacity of club applications to become a regional project. We are encouraging all clubs to apply for the equipment funding and, if they can within the regulations, the capital funding. However, we also want to put in six or eight regional applications.

We have always identified the issue of non-ownership to be the main barrier for most boxing clubs because of where they are. They are in the annex of a school or in a cow shed. There are clubs in that position as we speak and they felt that they could not apply because of the non-ownership or leasing. That was a major barrier. The system can also sometimes be daunting for the individuals in the sport, as alluded to.

I understand that. If people are involved in a boxing club in an administrative role, there is a fair chance they are also a coach and doing everything else. It can be challenging, but I implore Boxing Ireland as an organisation to get in touch with its members. We, as public representatives, will do so locally. There is a huge opportunity for funding and the €15,000, €20,000 or €30,000 for equipment would make a huge difference to many clubs.

May I interject? There are two things that cross over with that. We spoke briefly about reorganising our organisational structure. Part of the reason for that was so our development staff would be closer to the provinces and clubs on the ground. We will train them on how to apply for sports capital funding and part of their remit will be to assist the clubs, provinces and county boards with that process.

Another bit of work we are doing in the background is on our Sport80 system, which is our customer relationship management, CRM, system. In designing that system, we are asking whether people lease or own their facilities. That is the type of data we probably did not have in the past, so we will be more informed now. We will be able to go out to the clubs and we are training our regional officers at all levels to be able to assist.

This is not a criticism from me. It is encouragement. We will be doing our bit. It is just that there is funding available that could make a difference.

I will focus on my counties of Kilkenny and Carlow. We have been fortunate to have many successful boxers, none so successful as Darren O'Neill who was an Irish Olympian in 2012. He is a great guy and his dad, God be good to him, is a fantastic coach. He did a lot for Paulstown Boxing Club and was a GAA referee. Darren O'Neill was a successful hurler in his own right, too. I have seen the work people do and the passion and love they have on the ground. We love talking about the Katie Taylors, Kellie Harringtons and Darren O'Neills but it is about the ordinary person who walks in. That is why participation is so important.

Regarding statistics or data, Mr. Donnelly mentioned that Boxing Ireland did not measure success by medals. What data does it measure success by? Is it numbers participating?

Yes, the number of individuals participating is probably the most important metric, and then it is the number of affiliated clubs, which has been growing fairly steadily.

What is the retention rate like? Do many people come and say they want to box who are gone three weeks later? For example, when people join the GAA, they tend to be in it for life.

Every club is different. Clubs have different levels of status in the community measured by success. Bigger clubs hold on to people a little longer, people might be a little older. It depends on the individual and on the coaches in the clubs and how ambitious they are about retention.

Have many boxing clubs closed in recent years, that the witnesses are aware of?

No, we are growing.

There is a net increase. One or two have closed for various reasons. One closed in Belfast about three weeks ago, the Dockers Club. I think that was largely facility led. I am not 100% sure of the details. However, the trend in the Irish sports monitor is upwards.

I am conscious of time, so I will fly through my next questions. I thank the witnesses.

On Boxing Ireland's funding model, it receives substantial public funding from Sport Ireland. How does that work as regards it being allocated back into the clubs? For example, last year, what percentage went back to Paulstown Boxing Club? Is it done through the council or how does it work?

As we mentioned in response to a previous question, there is no-----

How much is spent on administration and central operations and how much is allocated to the grassroots?

Our core grant from Sport Ireland is €625,000 per year. That is largely used for administrative costs, but the clubs benefit from a safeguarding manager under that funding. I would like to think they benefit from a chief executive officer who is trying to improve the sport for them. We have spent money on a number of things.

How many staff does Boxing Ireland have?

We have 30 full-time and 16 part-time staff.

I have one last question, if the Chair will indulge me.

On the high performance side of things, when boxers get on the Olympic programme, they get their allocations depending on their levels. I believe the maximum is €40,000. I am thinking about welfare care for professional athletes if, for example, boxers get injured, which can happen, given the sport that is in it. Is the allocation given over the period of an Olympic cycle or how does it work?

If athletes are injured, their carding is not suspended. They will continue to be funded.

They are fully funded.

Yes, if athletes get funded from next year, they will be funded right up to the Olympic Games or Paralympic Games, depending on the discipline. It would have been removed a number of years ago. We are trying to ensure that the athletes have certainty under the carding scheme. It is a reasonable question. Some people still believe that, if they lose form in a year or get injured, they will be removed from the international carding scheme. That is not the case. It is our intention that, when athletes get on the carding scheme, there is stability and that it will endure for a cycle.

Now, things can happen. There can be events and so on, but generally the values of the carding scheme are such that when athletes get on it, they certainly would not-----

If I am on it-----

Deputy Cleere-----

Just a brief question. Let us say I am on it and am a bantamweight boxer - as you can see physically - and I get on the programme. I am getting €40,000 a year and am really focused on going to the Olympics and that is all great. Then, for example, I break my leg or something happens to my hip or I am in an accident or whatever and I am out of action for 12 or 18 months. I still have time to get back, however. During that period am I still going to continue to get fully funded during my recovery or am I left on my own?

A period of 18 months would be a long time to be out but we would try to-----

If I had a bad injury.

One of the issues specific to boxing is that it is so highly competitive and there are so many. We do not want three or four boxers on the same weight at the top-----

I get that.

The general principle is that if an athlete is injured, they are under the care of our excellent colleagues in the Sport Ireland Institute for rehabilitation. Their carding will remain part of the programme and their funding is sustained. They will have their next opportunity at a future date to sustain that funding or to make sure they can stay at that level.

I thank all the witnesses for joining us today. From the outset, I think today's sitting has been a very positive news story. There are not many organisations that come back in front of any committee, not just this committee, after a particularly contentious previous visit and that are able to come in and outline all the achievements it has made in such a short space of time. For everybody involved on that side of the room, that needs to be acknowledged.

All three opening statements reference boxing as being our most successful Olympic sport and how popular it is, with thousands participating in clubs everywhere and especially in disadvantaged areas. It is also a sport where mná na hÉireann are completely outperforming and are medalling more than the men and the boys, which is really heartening to see. I hope Mr. Donnelly does not mind me being parochial about Drogheda for a few minutes. I come from the largest town in the country that has a huge history and grá for boxing. We claim Deirdre Gogarty, who was the first female professional boxer in Ireland. I was actually part of the Deirdre Gogarty legacy committee that installed the statue of Deirdre in her home town the summer before last. We have a multitude of very successful boxing clubs. Drogheda Boxing Club is where Deirdre started off when she was the only female child knocking on the door. It was Drogheda Boxing Club that opened its doors to her. We have the Tredagh Boxing Academy in Termonfeckin, and the Holy Family Boxing Club in Ballsgrove. All the clubs see successes in themselves so I just have to give them a little plug for that considering the grá there is for boxing in Drogheda.

As I said, it needs to be acknowledged how far Boxing Ireland has come under the new leadership in a very short time. I took the opportunity to visit Mr. Stewart and his team some months ago. I have had a lot of these hard discussions already and I heard a lot of the progress the club has been making. That needs to be commended. Not many organisations that were classed as a "basket case" organisation, that were threatened with their funding being cut and that were not allowed to compete internationally can then come to where Boxing Ireland is now. I do not think that boxing needs this committee to point fingers any more. It needs our support at this stage. I was listening to my colleagues upstairs before I came down to the committee room and it was heartening to hear them all, one after the other, acknowledge the strides the organisation has made. That is very heartening to see.

I will start with Boxing Ireland. Its brief is huge. It covers the Thirty-two Counties and it is an all-island sport, which is a passion of mine. Boxing Ireland has hundreds of clubs and thousands of competitors. The organisation has put a huge amount of work into its legacy issues in recent years. Out of curiosity, how much of the witnesses' working week is still dedicated to addressing the governance issues that were inherited by the witnesses and which were not of their own making? Is it still a challenge for them? I know they have outlined the number of staff they have but how much time is still going into that at present?

A significant amount. Ms McAuley has brought in a real focus on policy and governance. It is probably more her area in the first instance.

It is very high. I have not mapped it but I would say 80%. Change management is slow. We can create the best policies in the world but that is nothing if we have not resourced them, have not put the procedures behind them, have not embedded it, and have not trained people and brought them with us. The bulk of my working week will still be going down rabbit holes-----

There is a positive to be taken out of that because the organisation is laying the foundations for generations to come. Earlier I heard Dr. May refer to the 80% of the recommendations that are achieved, so the organisation is down to a very small amount, effectively, that still have to be overcome. When that is done and the team's time is free, all of that energy and focus can be channelled elsewhere in the organisation.

Absolutely.

There is a positive to come out of that. Out of the 64 recommendations in the MacNeice report, what was the most difficult to action? The reason I ask that is not to be tedious in any way shape or form but I am sure other organisations are watching in on this today - I am not going to name them - that have followed suit with their own difficulties and challenges. They could potentially learn from Boxing Ireland and from the collaboration between the witnesses and members' highlighting Boxing Ireland's achievements. It could be used as a platform for other clubs to strengthen their own governance issues they are facing at the moment.

I would say that in some respects the cultural change is the most time consuming in terms of creating the positive environment. Having said that, I am only in post for nine months so a lot of the work was done before I came in. It is just polishing what is already there and taking deep dives into policies and procedures that I can be assured I can stand over, as some of them were created before I came. The cultural change is actually the hardest change for the association but it is also where we have moved the furthest forward. It is about the development of those relationships going forward and dealing with the internal processes around that because the roles and the responsibilities between staff members, committees and the board were not as clear as I would like. That is looking back historically, however. I have come into a very forward-thinking organisation where the relationships are already a lot better and a lot of the processes already had been put in place. The cultural change in general was the hardest hill to climb but I feel a lot of the work was done in advance of my coming in, in fairness.

Is there any scope or any way for the committee to be able to assist in that transition at this point? Is it something that needs to be done internally?

It is time, energy and resources to be honest because there are still misunderstandings around whose responsibility that solely is. It is with the membership in general and there is a bit of a process of bringing them along with us. There is a rule book in existence and it is still quite a historical rule book when we look at it . To me it is not as modern as it should be and it needs updating. It is taking that time and energy to go around the country, to work with our key stakeholders like Mr. Donnelly, and to go through those rules. People tend to hold onto rule books like bibles and quote them at you. The last one was from 2019 but there is probably a lot in it that is a lot older than that. It is not written in a modern, dynamic and flexible manner, which is what we need to be as a modern, dynamic national governing body. That cultural change and that education piece is to bring everybody with us so everybody is informed rather than just the board being informed. It is about that communication process, going out and actually meeting the clubs in the provinces. That takes time and energy away from every other process that we are delivering. This is why it is the hardest.

I am not sure if we are doing a second round of questions but before I finish it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge Katie Taylor today when the witnesses are in the room. I do not think there is a person in the nation that is not living for September and the historic night that is ahead of us. I mentioned Deirdre Gogarty. Katie Taylor referenced Deirdre as being her role model, as the woman she wrote a letter to as a child and who answered her, and who gave her the inspiration to do everything that she is doing for Ireland and for boxing at this moment in time. I just wanted to put that on the record.

I will ask my questions now, and I might actually just keep going on some of that cultural change. Boxing is a brilliant sport and it is led by a lot of volunteers on the ground but sometimes that can be an Achilles' heel. For example, some of the historical issues around governance were that councils provincially were finding it hard to be governed by the board.

What kind of progress has been made there in terms of the provinces? How are they being governed? As CEO, does Mr. Stewart feel supported by the membership and the grassroots, because this has always been a bit of a struggle?

Yes. I am a year and one day into the role. I was blown away by the support from the members and by the will to change and do things differently. That really struck me when I came into the role. I do quarterly town halls with members online. I also attend provincial council meetings. I was in Leinster a couple of weeks back, and I engage directly with the various units and the clubs. There is a very positive relationship. Obviously, I cannot speak to the last five, ten or 15 years, but my understanding, from speaking to other people in the sport and to Mr. Donnelly in particular, is that the relationship between the staff, the board, the central council and the provinces has probably never been as strong as it is now. Mr. Donnelly can speak to whether that is a fair comment.

I would second that. What way can I put it? When I came into this role, there was suspicion, a lack of transparency and, probably, a lack of integrity. I do not know.

There was probably a lack of trust between the two.

There were all these things that clubs would have seen. As a member of a club, I would have seen it as negative. The association was a bit of a shipwreck. Very few relationships were intact or trustworthy. In the past 18 months, we had the vote for World Boxing. I echo the sentiment in relation to where we are today, particularly in that so many clubs could be there to vote “Yes” in order to save the Olympic dream. A number of months previously, it was the opposite. This is how far we have come in terms of the clubs trusting the information and guidance provided by the central council and the board of directors.

It sounds as is the organisation has come an awful long way in terms of building the relationship from the grassroots up to the senior leadership team, which was probably the hardest part. Even from listening to Ms McAuley, it sounds as if the cultural shift has been the hardest aspect.

How far is Boxing Ireland away from achieving compliance with the governance code? Where does the process stand? When might compliance happen?

We are a type C organisation. There are 74 actions. Of those, 73 are relevant. One relates to being a charity. Over the past couple of years, we were hovering at having 65 to 66 completed. We are now up to 69. We have four actions that we want to complete before the end of the year, when we will sign off on our compliance. We could possibly have done it earlier, namely at the end of last year. As an executive leadership team - and in discussion with the board - the governance code is really important for us. We want to make sure that it is not just done; that it is actually embedded and that the principles and behaviours are being delivered on a regular basis as opposed to us saying that the policy has been created and that that is grand. It is more about the mindset. We made a commitment to Sport Ireland to have it done this year, and we will have it done. Once it is done, we want to keep it that way.

One of the other things I want to point out and commend Boxing Ireland on as well is the athlete welfare lead. Many of the conversations we are having in sport revolve around athlete welfare and safeguarding and the athlete-centric approach, which is very important. Does the athlete welfare lead sit on the board? Are they a former athlete or coach? What is the role, what does it mean and what access do athletes have to that person?

The role is part-time at the minute. It is 16 hours a week. That is largely because of resource issues. We hope to increase the hours next year. Aidan Walsh is our athlete welfare manager, who will be well known to people as an Olympian and bronze medallist. This is his area of expertise and study. I think he is either doing a doctorate now or is hoping to do one soon in this area. His remit, initially, is to first complete the work on our athlete welfare strategy and athlete welfare policy, get it done, and deliver it. He is around the high-performance unit often. He goes away to competitions as well to observe and support athletes when the pressure is really on. It has been a great step forward for us.

Gráinne Walsh, one of our more experienced athletes, did a podcast a couple of weeks back on which she said that she has never felt a stronger sense of psychological safety in her whole career than in the high performance unit at the minute, where her voice feels heard, she can influence decisions and she is consulted on things. That is a huge testament to the work that Jon Mackey, our performance director, and Damian Kennedy, our interim head coach, are doing. It is about our cultural architects doing a great job. In that podcast, Ms Walsh said that having that foundation of athlete welfare and safety is what is getting the best out of them.

Coming from someone injured, it is really positive and good to be in that headspace and to feel so supported.

Yes.

It is really good. Aidan Walsh is a great appointment. He is involved in athlete welfare; he is not involved in squad selection.

No.

That is important too. Turning to Mr. Shanley, he mentioned policy consultation in the context of the next national sports policy. The current one runs out at the end of next year. When will the Department go out to consultation? How far away is that?

We are going to be engaging in a range of consultative processes. The first is going to be a sectorial consultation with the national governing bodies and some other key sports organisations. We will likely be going out to consultation on that in the next month or two. We will then be doing a public consultation most likely at the start of next year. There will be a range of town halls or regional meetings across a number of months.

To follow up on one other point, we have also had meetings with Rowing Ireland this year. The Minister appointed Amanda Bennett to the independent inquiry. Has that inquiry begun?

Yes, it has.

What is the timeframe for it?

It is likely to be the end of the year or possibly slightly earlier.

We are discussing facilities. I need to acknowledge the ESB for giving over a premises that is now home to Lanesborough Amateur Boxing Club. I have seen Councillor Mark Casey setting up the equipment in the club. It is nice to see something that was a negative now being a positive, with that property being handed over to be the home of the boxing club.

The national stadium is not fit for purpose and needs investment. What is the difference between the IABA and Boxing Ireland?

I will have a go at this question. From the perspective of the boxing community, if the IABA turned up at the airport with a national team, nobody knew who we were. That is first and foremost. They did not even know which sport we were representing. Boxing Ireland is a new identity. We have a new administration, a new president and new staff in place, all singing from the same hymn sheet. It was time we highlighted that. We did so in the four-year strategic plan, In Your Corner. One of the first topics I brought to the meeting we had was the need to change our image. We needed to do that for multiple reasons, but primarily to attract young people, investors and clubs and encourage them to identify with the brand, one with a new identity and that is modern. We were Jurassic in how we were viewed, so we had to move on. Mr. Stewart did a fantastic job with the rebranding. It was 100% adopted by the boxing community. Children and parents in clubs everywhere now are wearing the brand. It is modern. We even got Liam Neeson in to do the voice-over on the promotional video. It is a positive, up-to-date and modern identity for the association in a time of great change.

It was almost a way for us to draw a bit of a line and say this is who we are now going forward. We are modern and progressive and going to do things differently. When you are changing an identity that has been around since 1942 and the name of an association that has been in existence since 1911, it is a big statement and that you are visibly going to change it. The logo and the name are one element, but the most important thing with the rebrand was the Built Different campaign and the Built Different values, which, as Mr. Donnelly mentioned, featured Liam Neeson, a former Ulster champion, kindly narrating the video for us. We wanted something that encapsulates what boxing means to people and that our clubs, the people opening gyms at 6 a.m. and still there at 11 p.m. and our high-performance athletes could get behind and believe in. It was about bringing the entire community together, whether it is club boxers, club coaches, volunteers or Olympic gold medallists, and creating an identity representing what boxing means to people. It was quite symbolic in a way, but it has been a huge enabler to allow us to do other things.

It built a lot of trust. We would have collaborated and engaged with our members from the outset. That sent a positive message to them that this is how we do our business now.

Deputy Byrne asked what was the hardest action in the MacNeice report. One of the actions was to rebrand as Boxing Ireland. I thought that would be the hardest thing, given the historical name, but actually it was universally popular with our members. That is testament to the work that has been done on it and other things that are going on in the association at the moment as well.

The National Stadium needs investment.

Definitely.

It is the only purpose-built boxing stadium in the world.

We want to make it a two-ring event stadium so we can hold international events, box cups and multi-nation tournaments. We want to bring it to the stadium.

Boxing is obviously the priority for the stadium but if we can enhance that, that is also a commercial revenue stream. We can then invest more in the boxing.

At the moment, it generates approximately €450,000 of revenue. Half of that is what you would say would be a profit. That directly goes into boxing. Given the location of it and given the capacity, with some investment and some enhancement, that is something that could be resourcing the association and could be support more boxers in the future. It is something, with the sports capital programme, from a regional application, we will be submitting for.

It is probably one for the large-scale sport infrastructure fund. Go bigger

I have two final questions. I will put the first to Sport Ireland. It is in relation to the scheduled in-depth governance audit it has in the pipeline for 2027 with Boxing Ireland. Is there anything of particular concern to Sport Ireland in that or is it just continued support and collaboration? If there is anything of concern, is there any legislation required that the committee can assist with to pave the way for that? I will give the last word to Sport Ireland.

In relation to public trust, I note Boxing Ireland's opening statement says that it recognises that "public trust is earned." It is big of them to own that. There are not too many people who would put that in black and white on paper. They might give us a comment on how they feel the rebuilding of the relationship with the public is going. As a final word, I hope today's committee hearing feeds into that rebuilding of trust with the public as well.

I will go to Sport Ireland first.

We carry out a regular schedule of audits of all national governing bodies, NGBs, throughout the years. Every year, we carry out a number of pulse audits, which are minor audits, and then the more in-depth audits, which we intend to do with boxing.

We do not have any particular concerns. It is an opportunity to acknowledge and recognise the progress and to identify whether there are any outstanding issues that remain at this point in time. We are not concerned that there will be any. We are confident in the outcome of that.

I thank Dr. May.

From a public trust perspective, we made good progress in the rebrand piece and how we position ourselves. Focusing more on the grassroots and participation is a big part of that. We have used the phrase, "Ireland's most successful Olympic sport". That has been repeated a few times. That is something we are incredibly proud of, as Mr. Donnelly said. However, our bread and butter, and what 99.9% of our members care about, is what happens in clubs around the country. Focusing on that builds trust.

There are a few things we are doing from a membership perspective. We do a stakeholder survey and we publish the results of that. We ask our members to rate us and we develop an action plan off the back of it. I will be doing quarterly town halls with members, where I will present things such as the operational budget for the year and take ten, 20 or 30 questions on why we are spending money on thing rather than another. Having that open dialogue with our members and explaining things is a huge part of building trust.

In terms of the public, our commercial partnerships and the sponsorships that we are bringing in are the biggest indicator that there is trust out there. We have Nike, one of the biggest brands in the world, as our partner and Sting, the biggest boxing equipment brand in the world, as our partner. We have Punctual Print. We have probably three or four more that will come on board by the end of the year. Five or six years ago, large companies like that might have been thinking twice about putting their name alongside the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, IABA, but now it looks like they are willing to put their name alongside Boxing Ireland, which is probably the biggest indicator.

There is lots of good stuff happening. We need to continue that journey, be open and transparent, and also be proud of what we are doing and keep telling the world what we are doing because there is a lot of good work happening.

If I do not mention my colleague, Councillor Eric Donovan, I will be disowned and thrown out of Sinn Féin. Eric a huge ambassador for boxing, not only in Louth where we have adopted him but in Kildare, from where he hails. He is very proud of his contacts and his connections with boxing in Kildare as well. He had his own ups and down on his journey throughout his boxing career - successes and, indeed, a big low when he did not achieve his Olympic dreams. I wish to put on the record here today that Sinn Féin is exceptionally proud of Councillor Donovan, his achievements and the work he continues to do. I am aware the witnesses know Eric very well. I would have been excommunicated had I not put that on the record today. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for her indulgence.

Hear, hear. I will row in behind that. I know Eric well. The LSSIF is a good shout in terms of the National Stadium. It is a big enough project to maybe start thinking about now because it probably will not come up for another couple of years in terms of the larger-scale fund. The National Stadium is in my constituency and I will do everything I can to help Boxing Ireland with that application when the time comes.

Carded athletes came up in relation to high performance athletes. Mr. McDermott has been around high performance athletes a long time. If we think back on the carded athletes that Mr. McDermott was dealing with 20 years ago, the funding levels are still the same. It is capped at €40,000 now but €40,000 is not worth as much to an athlete as it would have been previously. Where we are with re-evaluating those? Is that up to the Department? Is it up to Sport Ireland? What way does that work?

We keep it under review. The €40,000 is the same but the other two levels have increased.

They came up a bit, yes.

They are €25,000 and €18,000. We will constantly keep it under review. The number of athletes obviously has expanded. It is almost €5 million this year. We will look at it. There is no question about that.

While the point the Leas-Chathaoirleach makes is correct, that the €40,000 is the same level, the athletes generally are not using that money to fund the things that they would have done 20 years ago or even ten years ago. The programmes now-----

Because of the institute and the process.

Because of the institute, the governing bodies, the programmes and the coaching. Some athletes do, in certain disciplines. The issue for us is that when you look at different sports and different disciplines, the obligations on athletes are different. The strength of the international carding scheme is that it is criteria led, it is consistent, it is fair and it is transparent. You do not want to change it too much.

On the point the Leas-Chathaoirleach makes about the levels, certainly it is always under review and we will continue to review it. In our own high performance committee, we can bring papers. That is why we brought the changes to the other two levels. They are always under review. We are aware of the cost and sustaining athletes, etc. It is a very dynamic space but certainly the levels in the carding scheme are constantly under review.

I have a final question for Mr. Shanley. We are all on the edge of our seats here waiting for the community sport facilities fund, CSSF. Is there any chance it will be this week or will it be closer to next week?

Fortunately, I do not work on that team so I cannot tell you.

Very well done. I thank all of our witnesses today for coming in and for their engagement. It has been a very positive meeting. Boxing Ireland should take that away and continue that forward momentum into 2027 and the review that is ongoing as well. I thank the witnesses for their time. I thank Sport Ireland and the Department as well. We will go into private session now.