Mr. Ciaran Kirwan:

I am chairman of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, IABA. In my professional life, I am a solicitor with Margetson and Greene, which is based not too far from here. I have been in and around boxing for 50 years and I have served on the board for the past six or seven years. It has been my privilege and honour to be chairman for a little over two years. I am grateful for the opportunity to address this joint committee today. I am aware of some of the issues to be discussed but, before I start, I wish Mr. Treacy all the best in his retirement. I echo the Chair's sentiments in this regard. If I may, I will also congratulate our boxing team who participated in the Olympic Games, particularly our medallists. It was a tremendous performance throughout the country. We have 28,000 members, volunteers and schools programme participants throughout the organisation.

Amateur boxing is the Olympic sport in which Ireland has been most successful, accounting for over 50% of all Olympic medals we have won. In the previous four Olympic Games, our boxers have won nine medals, including two gold medals. We are extremely proud of the success of our boxers and the pride and honour our country takes in their achievements. Nonetheless, success at Olympic level is only one measure of the importance of boxing in Irish society. Perhaps it is of even greater importance that the IABA provides sporting opportunities to those in some of Ireland’s most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and those from minority ethnic groups such as the Traveller community. With regard to the role the IABA plays in Irish society today, we feel that our newest Olympic gold medallist, Kellie Harrington, put it best in her recent interview with The Irish Timeswhen she said:

I’d love for people to really understand how boxing all over Ireland has taken in so many kids off the street. They probably all won’t turn out to be big champions, but ... [they will have] made something of their life outside .. sport and all because they were taught discipline through the boxing club.

She also said, "Coaches in the clubs don’t do college degrees to become life-skills coaches - but they are life-skills coaches - unpaid, voluntary life-skills coaches who work at a full time job and have families at home and [yet who] still choose to come to try to better the kids ... [in] their communities."

In addition to the above, the IABA has always been a 32-county sport and we are very proud of the cross-community relations that were maintained in boxing throughout the conflict in Northern Ireland, where boxing people from both nationalist and loyalist communities continued to meet with each other and participate in sport together through a shared love of boxing. I am pleased to say that is still the case today.

The sport thrives from having a fantastic volunteer structure that, with generations of experience handed down, continues to produce a pipeline of talent for our excellent staff team in the high performance unit.

However, our invitation to come before the committee today comes about as a result of its request to discuss all governance within the IABA structures, including at central council and provincial council level. In terms of adherence to governance standards, we can confirm that the Rio games review of 2016, conducted by Sport Ireland, was fully adopted and all key recommendations implemented. We can also confirm that an AGM is held every year, that we produce audited accounts which are filed in a timely manner each year in the Companies Registration Office, and that we have introduced a new, overhauled memorandum and articles of association. These have been approved and signed off by the Revenue Commissioners. We have also introduced a new rule book. These new rules saw the introduction of terms of offices, selection of elite teams by high performance unit staff and a new disciplinary process overseen by an independent barrister.

We have implemented best practice in child protection processes, employing a full-time safeguarding manager to manage the organisation’s vetting systems and to ensure the company is fully compliant with all legal requirements and legislative Acts. We have received the best possible financial health check rating by Sport Northern Ireland and are reviewed twice annually by Sport Ireland. We have recently undergone an extensive governance review by Deloitte on behalf of Sport Ireland, which found zero significant issues outstanding. The board of the IABA has committed to declaring code compliance by the end of this year. The status of this is currently at 92% and it is now down to the board to ensure the final matters are addressed and to declare code compliance.

The committee should be aware that, last June, I requested Mr. Treacy and Sport Ireland to commission a robust independent review of the governance of the IABA. We believe the committee is aware this review is ongoing. The agreed scope of the review comprises an external assessment of the IABA’s governance model; an assessment of implementation of the governance code and a review of cultures and behaviours with the IABA structures, including board of directors, council and provincial structures; an assessment of the extent to which the governance model supports the needs of boxing and its members; and work to identify any additional considerations to facilitate the effective governance of the IABA going forward.

Given our extremely good standing with Sport Ireland, the statutory body for sport in this country, and with Sport Northern Ireland, we are disappointed this governance review has not been allowed to be completed before being asked in here today. It would have been more appropriate if that review had been allowed to conclude. We would then have been very pleased to return to the committee to discuss any recommendations received. The review is extremely important. I requested it from Mr. Treacy because I am aware a small but vocal minority of people have opposed the governance changes we have introduced. I wanted an independent governance review to confirm to our membership that we are on the right track and what we are doing represents best practice in governance.