John Treacy: The board of the IABA is 'deeply divided'

The CEO of Sport Ireland has said the IABA board is clearly deeply divided and that issues, such as the row over next week's boxing selection, undermine its work.

The IABA hierarchy were called to a meeting with Sport Ireland and the Minister for Sport following disagreements over team selection for the upcoming European Championships.

Speaking to Today with Sean O'Rourke, John Treacy said there are issues within the organisation that clearly need to be sorted out.

John Treacy has warned that the Irish Amateur Boxing Association’s funding is at risk if changes are not forthcoming https://t.co/5MM7gihI07 pic.twitter.com/LQOUjcxVyI

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) May 31, 2017

Mr Treacy said issues around recommended rule book changes have been ongoing since 2015 and that when people are hired to do a job, they should be allowed get on with it.

Bernard Dunne was appointed High Performance Director in April and needed, Mr Treacy said, to be 'let get on with his business.'

"Clearly this is a deeply divided board and there's different factions within the organisation. That is not corporate governance and that would be of real concern to ourselves, to the Minister and to the Department.

“Essentially we've left the meeting asking the IABA to go and sort those issues out. We want all organisations working as one, working for the good of the sport, working for the good of boxers."

Bernard Dunne.

Under the recommendations of the review into the boxing team’s performance at the Olympics last Summer, Dunne is in charge of selection.

However, the central council of the association have not ratified one of his picks for the European Championships, causing confusion as to who is actually in charge.

Mr Treacy said that he believed a box off between two potential contenders was going ahead tonight, which he had no difficulty with.

However, he said he did have a problem with the fact that the original recommendation, made by the performance director, was changed.

"You can't have committees making decisions around high performance, you can't have committees making decisions around team selection.

“After the issues around Rio and the spectacle and the embarrassment, we wanted to move forward with boxing, with a new chapter, new systems being put in place and the right programme director leading the programme. His recommendations weren't followed when he made his first decision."

He also said the allocation of IABA funds is at risk and warned that the organisation needed to sort its issues out as a matter of urgency.