Ms Deirdre Duke:

The Deputy made a good point about hockey predominantly being played in private schools. Investing in grassroots development is of importance. I was involved in certain programmes such as Tricks 4 Sticks and speaking to teachers in schools that are not predominantly hockey schools. Many of them are physical education teachers who may come from a hurling or other background and are trying to do their best to show the students hockey. Increasing that kind of grassroots level activity, with more volunteers and coaches, would allow schools that may be outside the Dublin area to grow the sport. Several new clubs have opened in Munster in recent months, which is great to see.

As Ms Evans said, our going to Tokyo is huge but ten years into the future, I would like to see a stadium such as Donnybrook filled four, five or six times a year with women's international hockey matches. It is about investing at grassroots level to build the sport so that in ten years we will be in a much better place than we are now.