THE INCOMING CHAIRMAN of Sport Ireland has shed further light on the nature of the relationship between the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) and Billy Walsh.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Transport & Sports Committee hearing to sign off on his new role, Mulvey revealed that one of the demands of the IABA was that Walsh seek written permission from their CEO — currently Fergal Carruth — before engaging with the media.
“In [a proposed contract], Billy Walsh was told that he could not engage with the Olympic Council of Ireland, the Irish Sports Council or the media without the written permission of the CEO.
“Imagine Joe Schmidt being told he had to contact Philip Browne [Chief Executive of Irish Rugby] every time he wanted to announce a team. This is unconscionable.”
Mulvey, currently the chairman of the Irish Sports Council, said he believes Walsh is just looking for the respect he deserves after leading Irish boxers to so much success.
“What was Billy Walsh looking for? I think he was looking for respect. And my God did he deserve it.
“The second thing he was looking for was authority. Reasonable authority to run the high performance programme without petty bureaucratic interference.
“How can you have a situation in Doha where a boxer could win a medal then Billy having to turn to Des Cahill and say, ‘Sorry, I can’t give an interview, I have to get written permission.’
“That exposes a mentality to me and, from what I know and understand what was going on, it was constantly to chip away at whatever authority Billy had achieved – and it wasn’t enormous.
“There was also a feeling sometimes that I get from meeting the IABA that there’s a resentment of the High Performance Unit and of the resources that go into it.”
Mulvey also refused to rule a funding review — something he first suggested on last night’s RTÉ’s Prime Time programme – of the IABA and appeared to suggest Sport Ireland could take control of that High Performance Unit:
“The IABA for all practical purposes is almost totally funded by the state.” Mulvey told the hearing.
“It is not my intention and it will never be the intention of the board to go hurt the athletes, the boxers, the coaches. All of them can get a guarantee from me this morning that they will not be touched.
“They will be the best financial support that we can do. My concern is that portion of the grant that is given to the IABA for central headquarters administration.
“I am putting that marker down now and I hope I will be supported on this. We will review that for the 2016 funding round until we are assured that everything that is required on transparency and corporate governance is to our satisfaction.
“It’s not today or yesterday that this arose. It’s not working properly and it needs to be fixed.”
The IABA has been contacted for comment.
