We are talking about something I am very passionate about myself, being a soccer fan since I was four or five years of age. I have the luck or misfortune, whichever way you look at it, of following Arsenal Football Club.

Sentiment score: 0.59

It started when Liam Brady, David O'Leary, Frank Stapleton and Pat Jennings played there. There were I think seven Irishmen playing with at the time so it was like watching Ireland play instead of watching Arsenal play. We are suffering at the moment but I think we are holding out Sporting CP at the moment. It is 0-0 and we are 1-0 up on aggregate so it looks like we are heading to a semi-final, but at the same time, we were suffering a bit the previous weekend. I listened to a lot of the debate. As I have said, I have a serious interest in this all of my life. We are always talking about separating church from State but we should certainly separate sports from politics to a degree. Obviously, there is funding needed or whatever. I have very serious concerns about that upcoming game people do not want the Republic of Ireland to play. We obviously know what would happen if that was the case. We would be kicked out of every tournament that is coming up. That would have to be a decision made by UEFA, not a decision made by the FAI. If it did, it would probably be the end of Irish soccer as we know it for the next ten years. We cannot let that happen. I will not go into the details of the shocking wars that are out there. We know where they are but I would certainly never agree with anyone saying we should sideline our international team from playing with anyone. That is not a decision the FAI can make, it is a decision that UEFA has to make. If UEFA make it then, we know that, going forward, our football teams can take part in other competitions and not be thrown out of them. I respect other people and some people here in the Dáil have been treated poorly because of their honest opinion. I am certainly not having a personal go at anyone but that is my view. I am just looking at the bigger picture of soccer in general. I look at the League of Ireland. I watch it and have an interest in it. I do not get a chance to go to games. Coming back to local level, I worry about how we develop. If you look at Max Dowman playing for Arsenal. He is 16 years of age and the youngest kid who had ever scored a goal in the English premiership. How does the club mature that guy? It has had him since he was he was 13 or 14. I look at people in west Cork like David Hall and others who put every human effort they can to promote young people - I would say literally out of their own pocket - to try to get them from where they are to where they could be. Some of these people can be superstars if they get the right supports, training and funding. I know there is a lot of money spent on sports capital projects. I am not here to criticise anybody about sports capital projects. The money is out there but I just wonder are we really looking at huge talents out there, promoting those talents and taking them from where they are to where they could be? Can we get another Max Dowman? Can we get another Katie McCabe? I know I keep thinking of Arsenal players here, but anyway. Katie is an incredible soccer player for the Irish women's team and she is really passionate and has drive, along with other great soccer women out there. Last night was proof of that with our 3-2 victory. I always throw my eye on a match and it is a bad habit. If I am with somebody, it goes out the window because I keep looking at the television if there is a soccer match on. I was watching, with a bit of delight, Leeds United beat Manchester United the other night but we will not go too strong on smiling at other teams because I might be in a bit of bother myself with my own. It is a good debate. People ask why are we talking about football here? It has given people a lot of enjoyment. I myself try everything, no matter what is on, to try get home to watch Match of the Day. I do not have Sky because there is no point, I am never at home. I get a chance to watch Match of the Day every Saturday night. It is a religion for me to watch the matches. There is a lot of discussion here about sports and sportspeople. Deputy Paul Lawless is not here so I will keep talking away. There are sportspeople out there. We saw what happened at the weekend with Rory McIlroy's fantastic victory. At the bottom of our hearts, it gives us great pride. We saw what Troy Parrott and the Irish team did a number of weeks or months ago. It lifted the spirits of a nation. Sometimes when the nation is down, it needs that kick. We saw it before with Jack Charlton's team. We can remember Ronnie Whelan's volley against the Russians. It was probably one of the finest goals that was ever seen. He never got much praise for it. Ray Houghton got great goals as well. They seem to give a lot of praise to certain people but I just remember Ronnie's volley from well outside in the field and lifted straight into the top of the net. That lifted the nation. I was there at that time. I was there as part of the celebrations. We nearly got there again. Unfortunately, it did not work out for us this time but we needed that. The country needs that bit of a boost. No matter how good the country is going it still needs that bit of a boost. My own local team, Bunratty United, has been very successful down through the years and given passionately. So many volunteers in that Schull club took it to the top level for many years. Then you look down at Drinagh Rangers. They have new facilities put in there and I commend the Government on funding that. That is what it is all about. That is where we can get the talent. I see Liverpool stars have gone down and played there through the years. Even if they are retired, if the Ray Houghtons - or back to the Ronnie Whelans again - and others turn up, people will travel to see them. It gives them a bit of happiness. I heard somebody mentioning community facilities here a while ago. I live myself in a community and I am on the community council in the last parish in Ireland, a place called Goleen on the Mizen Head Peninsula. We built a community facility where both soccer and GAA are played. That is a focus that we need in this country. When funds are spent, everyone in the community should be able to use the same facility. Let the GAA and the soccer work together because the GAA is doing so much huge voluntary work in this country and probably do not get commended on a lot of it. We need to invest more. We need to invest in academies and in bringing the youth soccer players, whether they are women or young men, to their potential. They have potential and that is where we have slipped up in this country. We have not followed it up. Players need money. Parents cannot just fork it out all the time. If you really have a committed parent, they are talking about driving their kid around to all sorts of clubs, training and games all over the place and it is all coming out of the same pocket. We have a young lad in west Cork, a kickboxer, Evan Collins, and he is trying to do the same. He is trying to travel around the world but the funds are not there. We have talented young people who can take it a step further and maybe represent us at the Olympics or whatever but the parents are trying to find the money and they are fundraising. We need to look deeper into where moneys can be put to see how we can bring the very best out in these young people. It is the greatest thing ever. If kids up here in Dublin or wherever are focusing on a bit of sport, they are focused away from the bad things that are going on in the world, whether it is the drugs or the drink. That is where we need to spend our money. I support that any time going forward.

Sentiment score: 0.15