(JULY 19) Good news for Irish boxing this week with the announcement by Minister Michael Ring, TD, of an additional grant of €975,000 ( approx.USD1.3 million) with special emphasis on improving club facilities throughout the country for female boxers.

The first substantial grant was made in July 2011, during the Centenary year of the IABA ,when some €1.5 million (£1.3 million/$2.1 million) was made available to improve facilities at boxing clubs up and down the country. That was a generous grant but the scene has changed dramatically since 2012 thanks in no small measure to the Gold medal win of Katie Taylor in the Olympic Games.

You may recall we reported in mid-2013 that Minister Ring made another substantial grant available to the IABA (€1 million (approx $1.25 million at that time) in funding for boxing clubs ,with particular emphasis on upgrading training facilities particularly for women and youths.

Some considerable progress has been made since then though there remains much more to be done especially since numbers of young women in boxing in Ireland, North and South, have increased dramatically since Katie Taylor's London 2012 Gold medal - indeed many clubs have been struggling to cope with the huge additional numbers.

Later that year (2013) in addition to the club's own fund raising efforts, some €190,000 came from the Dept of Transport, Tourism and Sport, to help renovate the Bray Boxing Club, home club of Katie Taylor (Bray Council contributed an additional €100,000) .

At the launch on completion of the work - in January 2014, Minister Ring said : “I was delighted to be able to allocate monies to this project, and I extend my congratulations to all involved on a project well done. I would like to wish the club every possible success in the future. Given the talent that exists in this club, at every level, there is every reason to believe that it will continue to be a success story in Irish Sport, and I am hopeful with these facilities, Bray can produce more Olympians.”

According to the Dept's latest Press Release : "Most of this latest allocation (€750,000) is to further extend the 2011 facilities initiative which was devised to improve boxing facilities and, in particular, facilities to accommodate female boxers. A smaller portion of the allocation (€150,000) is to enable the IABA to purchase equipment for boxing clubs, while €75,000 is being provided for works at the National Stadium. The entire allocation will be again be administered by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association".

In making this most recent award the Minister concluded : “This further allocation recognises the fact that some boxing clubs continue to operate in facilities which are in relatively poor condition and lack basic facilities. I am pleased that we continue to make progress in helping to ensure that young people joining boxing clubs will be able to train in decent, fit-for-purpose facilities.”

“Under the initiative eligible clubs will be able to make improvements to facilities such as dressing rooms, showers, toilets and heating. As well as ensuring that more young people have access to decent facilities and equipment, this allocation also further recognises the special place of boxing in Irish sport.”

Fergal Carruth, Chief Executive Officer of the IABA, said that the special grant is a huge boost for Irish boxing, which has won seven of Ireland’s eight medals in all sports from the last two Olympics.

He said: “We are very grateful to Minister Ring and the Department for approving this allocation and their continued support to boxing and in particular the support provided to our clubs, who are the very lifeblood of our sport.”