Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister of State's response and I appreciate that there are talks ongoing to get the matter resolved, but as he can see, this is an international issue. The issue that has arisen is not just about the quality of the sport, it is about the governance of the organisations in question. In other words, we have governments issuing warrants to the president of the International Boxing Association who, seemingly, has a precarious background. That is why the IABA has been suspended.

All of this is happening in a situation where we have some of the best athletes coming up in boxing. As the Minister of State said himself, it has given our highest return in recent decades in Olympic medals. It would be a shame going forward, for a sport that anyone in society is able to participate in no matter their creed or financial background, if we did not do enough to get this resolved. Tokyo 2020 is only around the corner.

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