I join with other Members who have talked about the value of football and what it does for communities and for the nation. I congratulate both our men's and women's teams for their successes on the one hand and their disappointments on the other but their effort in both cases. Beidh lá eile acu. We have a great foundation to build on despite the disappointment in Czechia recently. I will focus on football at a local level. In Dún Laoghaire, we are blessed to have more than a couple of really excellent local football teams and clubs. I think of places like Joey's in Sallynoggin, St. Joseph's AFC, which is not just the place where I cast my vote at the general election but also an enormous community organisation. People like Ollie Crilly who are involved in running the club there are part and parcel of the community providing a facility particularly for young kids and a feeder than to more serious soccer at older level. Within Sallynoggin, the club is a huge outlet for kids in the area. It is a huge source of competition but also an opportunity for them to build skills and community and become part of teams, which is so important. I understand that Granada F.C. in Blackrock - its name is a portmanteau of Granville and Ardagh, the two housing estates either side of Newtownpark Avenue that originally put together the team - is the largest youth club in the country. It is so active. I am privileged to have been at many of its matches but also to praise it. Its chair, Ciaran Kane, and all the people involved in running the club have taken up opportunities that have been presented to them. For example, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, and specifically Blackrock, created a friendship agreement with Vincennes, which is a suburb of Paris, and now every year a junior team from Granada will go to Vincennes to play in a tournament there and they will often win. I think they surprised people a couple of years ago when they did as well as they did. They are competing with teams from all over Europe in some instances and from all over Paris and all over France. That is an indication of something that soccer, football, can use to build bridges between people. TEK United is another hugely important club with an interesting history. It is named after Sutton's T.E.K., which was a dairy in that area. The founder of that dairy had fought in the battle of Tell El Kebir in Egypt in 1882 and on the crest of the football club there is the sphinx, the year of the battle and the word "Egypt". It is a hugely historic name. It was founded in 1946. It is a hugely important club just next to Stradbrook. In fact, Emily Bolger in my office plays for them as well. We have a great connection to TEK United. There are also Cabinteely FC and Dalkey United FC who colocate with Cuala GAA club. I attended Cuala this morning as it announced an new sponsorship deal with Amgen. Both of those teams have huge community involvement and the local area is so lucky to have so many people who give their time, effort, blood, sweat and tears for the club, as well as the players who commit so much. That is also the case with clubs like Ballybrack FC and Seaford Rock United. There are so many of these teams. They contribute so much. There is no amount of money that would actually supplant what they do for a community. The value they add for a community is enormous in terms of the networks, the comradery, experience, sportsmanship and team-building. All of these things are vital aspects of it. I want to comment specifically on women's involvement because among all of the clubs I have mentioned some are very strong in youth, some are very strong in terms of their success and where their players go on to play but all of them have also committed to women's sport. One of the things that has really blossomed in the past few years is not just women's sport, because it was always there, but our understanding and recognition of women's sport, which was not always there. I attended the club final last year in Tallaght. The feeling at a club match with women is much better than it is with men. There is a much greater family atmosphere and the competition is more fierce.

Sentiment score: 0.31