I am glad of the opportunity to speak on these statements tonight. Soccer gives this country great joy, similar to all sports. In fact, I attended the opening of a new stand at Cratloe GAA Club in County Clare the other day. I had to deliver a speech and I asked the crowd, if we did not have sport, what would we have. It is such a way of life for people, whether they are playing it, being actively involved or volunteering at the local clubs. Then there are those whose playing days are over. They may be bringing their kids to training and they are getting immense joy from that, whether it is watching the local teams or the county teams. Then there is soccer and the joy it has brought to us, particularly recently, because there have been bad days in Irish soccer. I was born in 1982 and grew up thinking Ireland would always reach World Cup quarter finals. It was not so but the joy it has brought again in recent times has been absolutely incredible. It is lovely to see children going around wearing jerseys with "Parrott Number 7" written on them and Katie McCabe jerseys as well. What is wonderful is that, when I was growing up during the eighties and nineties, there was just men's sport. There was only one Irish football team to get behind. There has always been an Irish women's team but it is televised now. The names are household names. My daughter and her friends know the players and are behind them. Men are watching them and women are watching them. It is a sport for all, and long may that continue. Yet there is still a long journey to go in terms of women's sports. I ask that, when the Minister of State has any budgetary opportunities, whether it is on budget day or within his Department with allocations of sports capital funding, that he take cognisance of that journey that players, their parents and their coaches are making to bring women's sports to a level playing field. As I mentioned on budget day, on the most recent budget day, the Minister of State made a positive announcement that there would be €3.5 million allocated to academies affiliated with League of Ireland clubs. That was fantastic. I do not know how the dates aligned but there was bad news around then that club development officers were being given redundancies. All except development officers affiliated with the women's senior, men's senior and men's under-21 teams were offered redundancy. The package to have academies affiliated with League of Ireland club was significant. It allows the next generation of Troy Parrotts and Katie Taylors to start at grassroots level. I am concerned, though, because League of Ireland is the elite structure of club football in Ireland but there are many counties, my own included, that do not have a League of Ireland club. There is Treaty United down the road, Galway and clubs in neighbouring counties. Not to take from that budget announcement, which was fantastic and long may it stand, but it would be great to have an additional layer of local development teams funded by the Government or local authorities leading out the counties as well. I am not going to get into naming all clubs or players; my young lads played with Corbally United up until recently. It is a fantastic club. There are so many clubs across Clare. In the southern belt of the county, some play in the Limerick district soccer league while many more play in the Clare league and even in the Tipperary league. It is fantastic to see youngsters on Saturday and Sunday mornings kicking the ball up and down the field, learning skills from coaches who give up their time. Like others, I commend the volunteerism. I ask that, going forward, we might have some budgetary package for that. For any clubs watching, the man I am addressing these comments to is the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy Charlie McConalogue - may it be repeated again and again over the coming months. He will be visiting clubs throughout County Clare and other counties. I look forward with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, to bringing him to the clubs of County Clare. I hope he will deliver for a lot of us as the year goes on.

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