Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was very disappointed to hear over the weekend that a 12 year old girl from Carlow was not allowed to compete in the National Stadium for her second Irish boxing title, having already won at local provincial and national level. She had trained hard and worked long hours with her coaches in Tullow. This great fighter was refused entry to the competition by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association when it cited a rule that boxers cannot compete as a boxer while being a member of any other contact sport. This sportswoman had previously won a silver medal at the Muay Thai World Youth Championships in Thailand. There has been outrage locally and nationally at this refusal.I have been onto the office of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport about this. At a time when we promote mental and physical health, this is unacceptable. I know the Leader will bring this to the Minister for me.

I agree with the previous speaker on Rehab and its services. I have just left a meeting with Rehab where we heard about its serious concerns about the 3,000 people with disabilities who use its service. There are 1,500 staff. This is a crucial service. I live near a Rehab service in Carlow town and it is absolutely excellent. There is a meeting today at 5 p.m. with the Minister for Health and I ask that the families would not be concerned or worried. They are tormented with worry about whether the service will be closed. Rehab is telling them if it does not get €2 million by 2020, this service will cease to exist. That is unacceptable. I ask the Leader to make sure this does not happen.

I wish all the Fianna Fáil councillors all the best in the elections. It is very important that people come out to vote. Every one of us has a vote and people should get out and use their votes. I think there have been some issues about who registered-----