Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank both contributors. I come from a rather different background in terms of sporting activity. As a young student in Synge Street, I think I had a reaction against the GAA because if the Christian Brothers saw us playing soccer, which was the game we used to play on the streets around Portobello, we suffered badly. For a long time, I had a negative reaction to the Christian Brothers and the GAA because they were synonymous with each other for penalising us poor working class kids in Portobello.

Once I got involved in politics, I discovered the likes of the Liffey Gaels, the Lorcan O'Toole club, the Good Counsel club on Davitt Road and the St. James's Gaels. To think the GAA is a purely voluntary and amateur organisation, and to think that what we were presented with today is as a result of a grassroots movement, is mind-boggling. I congratulate the organisation and say I hold no ill-will from the days of my deviant youth.

As politicians, we are anxious to bring back as many as possible of our diaspora. Clubs in Ireland have been decimated because of emigration. Are there any good examples of indigenous people in the countries in which we have all these clubs engaging in the process? In the long term if people return, would they be replaced by indigenous populations? Do the witnesses think the games are sufficiently attractive to absorb indigenous people?

We are all sports fans. That the Irish cricket team won its match against the United Arab Emirates today is a phenomenal success and as sporting people, we should congratulate it.

The GAA is looking after the Irish diaspora throughout the world but we have a different diaspora in Ireland. We have just created 70,000 citizens who come from 160 different nations. I am familiar with the name of Jason Sherlock who is Vietnamese-Irish. I congratulate the GAA and just as the schools are absorbing this cultural diversity, I hope there will be more engagement by the new communities in Ireland in these games.