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

The Minister of State fobbed me off again with glossy answers. I have two straight questions. Has the Minister of State spoken to the Irish Athletic Boxing Association?

When the Minister was in the capital of the US, Washington DC recently - where they have initiated concerns about the president of the International Boxing Association - attending the World Anti Doping Agency conference where he made tremendous deliberations, did he not use the opportunity to speak to representatives of the other political bodies that attended that meeting and ask them what was happening with the international boxing situation? Given the Minister's remit in this jurisdiction and the manner in which he is always able to put his hand in someone else's pie, will he tell us whether he talked to them about it in America? That was only two months ago and this issue has been hanging in the balance for over 12 months. We seem to be getting no progress and the future of Irish boxing is in jeopardy because if we do not get recognition at the Olympics it causes trouble.

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