Well done, Senator.

Last Sunday, an extraordinary general meeting, EGM, of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, IABA, took place in Roscommon town where the delegates voted against allowing company EGMs and annual general meetings, AGMs, to take place in Northern Ireland. Furthermore, again concerning EGMs and AGMs, a motion to change the wording in the company's constitution from State to the island of Ireland was not passed.

In advance of the recent EGM, the Ministers with responsibility in this area, namely, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, and her Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, made it very clear what that organisation had to do to reach the required, necessary and accepted standards of governance. It has been documented. I am enraged on a different level. I am enraged that a sport that has done so much to heal rifts in this country would decide to snub people in the North. I refer to people like Hugh Russell. Do people not remember Barry McGuigan in the King's Hall or in the stadium on Loftus Road with his late father singing "Danny Boy"? Do they not remember Wayne McCullough and Michael Carruth? Do they not remember Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan? Do they not have an inkling that boxing is so much more than just a fight? Boxing in this country has transcended sport, and been a healing and unifying force.

Most definitely.

The IABA delegates acted in a reckless way with no regard whatsoever for the fine boxing heritage and history in this country. They do not reflect the followers of boxing. They do not reflect the Kellie Harringtons and Katie Taylors. They do not reflect Eric "Lilywhite Lightening" Donovan from County Kildare, who epitomises all that is decent in the sport of boxing and wish him well as he has a title fight in Belfast in September.

I urge the IABA delegates to rethink their actions and hope they have not done irreparable damage to a wonderful tradition that has survived much tougher and challenging times. Boxing did not go the way of many other sporting organisations. It was one place where you could park your politics before entering any boxing stadium. The delegates have done sport and their own sport of boxing a terrible disservice. I hope that we can still rectify the situation. We can talk again about corporate governance and this situation goes to show how endemic the problem is in leadership. I wish to emphasise that not everyone in the IABA is at fault. The senior people in the IABA urged a different outcome but their advice was ignored, neglected and declined by people who did not have the sport's unity and healing front and centre in their thoughts.

Thanks to the courtesy of Senator Buttimer we will get Senator Currie back to an important meeting.

I wish to raise the issue of the community services programme, CSP, managed by Pobal, as we are in the run-up to the budget. This issue affects the Huntstown Community Centre and various other community centres in Dublin 15 and nationally, as represented by the national CSP managers' network. As people will be aware, the programme ensures that community centres are provided with support, which is topped up through the social enterprise aspect of the centres and the shortfall is met. The programme creates employment in areas for people who might struggle to secure employment elsewhere. It also provides social, economic and environmental services in communities. We can feel very proud of the programme in terms of what it delivers.

I wish to state that the support aspect of the CSP programme has not been increased since 2009 and stands at €8.65 an hour. As we know, the national minimum wage is currently €10.50 an hour and the living wage is €12.90 an hour. These centres and other partners in the programme have faced Covid but now face ongoing and rising cost-of living charges, and increases. Therefore, we need to examine the programme in the budget as the hourly CSP rate has not increased since 2009. At present, managers earn €32,000 and they seek an increase that will bring their wage up to €40,000, which would be money well spent. They also want the current support of €8.65 an hour increased to the current minimum wage rate.

Tomorrow, 14 July, is the deadline for the community centre investment fund and I wish community centres all around the country the best of luck.

I thank my secretarial assistant and agree with Senators who have said today that the secretarial assistant issue must be resolved, as a matter of urgency. Finally, I wish everyone a good recess.

And now, the ever-patient and courteous Senator Buttimer.