I will repeat what everyone else has said, that if we are to get serious about soccer - we have seen the absolute success of the League of Ireland lately - we need to put the money required into academies. We all know about the deficit in infrastructure. Many of us see it on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and it is not good enough. It is not good enough for all those who attend. The Minister of State and I had an interaction recently about what the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, said about a plague on all your houses. While an issue needed to be dealt with, particularly what happened in Oriel Park and flares in general, that was an absolute slap in the face of all those who put the time in and volunteer for clubs, everything from grassroots up to senior clubs in the League of Ireland. If we are going to talk about that element of volunteerism, recently, Muirhevna Mór Football Club was awarded a Louth County Council civic award on the basis of 50 years of real work. As much as the club is having success at the moment, it has had some recent tragedies. We remember Martin "Gilser" Gill and Ciarán "Skinny" Bond, people who put in a huge effort over a long time and will be badly missed. We all welcome what we saw with Heimir Hallgrímsson and Troy Parrott and we almost thought we were back to Jack Charlton and Ray Houghton - not this time. Obviously, it is different for the women's senior team who are absolutely flying. Long may it last. We will need to see large scale sports infrastructure funding and Oriel Park will need to see it more than anywhere else. We are finally some good days, having had our recent problems. I thank and commend the club and I hope it continues with Ciarán Kilduff, Daryl Horgan and all of the rest of the team. I could talk about multiple teams. I could talk about everybody from Glenmuir FC to Bellurgan, and I have to mention Castletown Belles or I will not be forgiven by Mackers and Erin. I could talk about Bay FC, Quay Celtic and Woodview Celtic. I even played in Rock Celtic the other week and Bellurgan FC. Bellurgan actually allowed me play on a proper team.
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I know that. Everyone here has properly commended Joanna Byrne-----
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-----for standing by the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people-----
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-----and it is a disgrace what has been done.
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She has paid a price but we have to commend her volunteerism and her commitment to justice.
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