John O'Mahony (Fine Gael)
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I will address the issue of phase two of the Abbotstown sports campus. It is a brilliant development. There is no funding for 2017 in the Estimates. Will it be funded in 2018? I seek the comments of both the Minister and the Minister of State on the deal on funding with the Gaelic Players Association, GPA, and the Gaelic Athletics Association, GAA, before Christmas because I presume that they are high-performance athletes as well. However, I presume programmes have been worked out. On what is the €6.7 million being spent? In respect of governance, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, mentioned the OCI. With all that happened in recent events, both the Minister and Minister of State stated that its funding would be reviewed. Has that happened?

The issue of boxing was mentioned. One could not make up what happened. Last week, I asked Sport Ireland how much day-to-day governance it has in this regard. I note one boxer did not train with the rest of the team and ended up failing a drug test when he arrived in Rio de Janeiro. From a management perspective, if somebody is not training with the group, why should he or she travel? I did not get an answer. I was told many years ago that when drug testing started at GAA level, funding would be withdrawn if the GAA did not co-operate. There still seems to be a lack of co-operation by some governing bodies.

Where are we at in recognising or regulating mixed martial arts, MMA, as a sport? We lost a world leader in the boxing area two years ago. Since the Irish Sports Council appeared before the committee, it has been announced that the high-performance director of rowing is leaving. Have we developed a habit of losing winning managements?