Officials from IABA have been in talks with Paul McDermott from Sport Ireland as well as Peter Hogan and James Lavelle from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media over the prospect of a return to full contact training and competition.

However it was confirmed the IABA Elite Championships - planned to take place in January - would need to be rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision will be a setback to Ireland's Tokyo 2020 hopefuls who will be looking to step up their preparations for the Olympic qualifier in London in April.

According to IABA, it was made clear that there was a "high likelihood" of a "post-Christmas spike" in coronavirus cases and "no amount of provisions or protocols would be sufficient" to mitigate the anticipated restriction levels next month.

"It is with an extremely heavy heart that we must deliver this news which comes as another body blow to amateur boxing, following what has been arguably the toughest period the sport has endured in living memory," the IABA statement read.

"However, we wanted to present our membership with this information in as timely a fashion as possible and in turn allowing our boxers/coaches to alter their training over the Christmas period until more clarity is provided.

"Again, we are doing our best to fight the good fight for Irish boxing, but overriding circumstances and problems caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic are completely beyond our control. 

"That said, we will continue to champion the cause of boxing until we get back in the ring."

The IABA said Hogan, the chair of Ireland's Return to Sport Expert Group, fully supported the organisation's bid to run the Elite Championships "as soon as possible".

It was also agreed additional talks would take place early next month with the intention of holding the event ahead of the Olympic qualifiers.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Republic of Ireland has recorded 76,185 cases and more than 2,000 deaths to coronavirus.

The IABA said Hogan was hopeful the Irish Government would be exploring additional amendments to the current restrictions which could "assist sporting organisations to return to meaningful training and potentially allow for the return of competition at certain levels".

Brendan Irvine is currently the only Irish boxer to have secured their place at Tokyo 2020, which has been moved to next year due to the global health crisis.

Ireland has won 16 Olympic medals in boxing, including golds for Michael Carruth at Barcelona 1992 and Katie Taylor at London 2012.