Despite the lifting of a ban on female membership five years ago, many Irish clubs are refusing to allow women and girls to join up. But now Irish women, inspired by Wicklow's Katie Taylor, the European lightweight champion, are demanding the same respect as their male colleagues.

"Many boxing clubs in Ireland still ban girls from training, " said Anja Norman, development officer for the Amateur Irish Boxing Association.

"They don't welcome them. They claim they do not have the right training facilities. They are afraid of how they'll cope."

Norman, a former competitive boxer in Sweden, claimed to the Sunday Tribune that she was refused entry to every club in Ireland. The situation has been improving in recent years, she said. "I would say that more than half of clubs now accept women."

It has become Norman's mission to promote women's boxing throughout Ireland so that girls are not afraid to join the clubs. "It can be hard for the older men in boxing clubs to accept women, but we can't give up, " she said. "We are gaining more equality in boxing, and it's wonderful to see. It's such a great sport for building self-confidence in girls."

Norman is recruiting girls to compete at club and county level, so that in the coming years they can hold a national championship. Just last weekend, she organised a boxing camp in Coleraine for girls aged 11 to 27. Training the girls were top coaches and female role models such as Katie Taylor. "Katie was great with the girls.

She was out doing pair exercises and running with them."

One young boxer who considers Taylor one of her biggest inspirations is 17-year-old Kelly Harrington, who boxes for a local Dublin club. "I've been doing boxing for a year now and I love it, " she said. "I've wanted to do boxing ever since I can remember. My uncle's a boxer, so that's how I got interested in the sport."

When asked if it was difficult to gain acceptance in the club, she simply said, "they don't mind".

Harrington has shown a lot of potential since she began training only a year ago, and has remained dedicated to her training regime. "I am training three days a week, for about two hours a day. In fact, I'm on my way to training just this minute, " she said.

Even though the film Million Dollar Baby . . .

about a female boxer . . . was on the big screen when she joined the club, she maintains that this is not the reason she boxes.

"I've always wanted to get into it. A lot of the other girls would be attracted to the sport for that reason, and others just want to look at the boys.

There are a lot of girls that are excellent boxers.

Occasionally, I will spar with the boys, but not that often. They would be going easier on me."

Norman believes young girls like Harrington will go far. "It is so hard for women to get into clubs, so those in the sport really want to be there.

They will train hard, sometimes harder than the men."

Norman said there was a good chance that women's boxing would be an event in the 2012 Olympics. "Women's boxing is very big in Asia, especially Japan, and, of course, the US. The Boxing Association will be discussing this issue further with the Olympic board in 2009."