Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

The Taoiseach's office oversees the north inner-city task force in Dublin. I imagine this week he was as proud as anyone else in the country when a young man from the north inner city captured the nation's heart by scoring two goals against Portugal and three against Hungary, namely, Troy Parrott. Whenever we have these heroes from the north inner city – I assure the Taoiseach we have many of them - inevitably, the conversation turns to the lack of facilities. Once again, when we talk about soccer, there are no football or AstroTurf pitches in the north inner city. When it was Kellie Harrington, there were no boxing facilities that were well funded by the State. The north inner-city task force has been well funded - I admit that - but we still have the same lack of facilities, meaning these sporting heroes have to travel outside of their own communities. There are very few places in the country where people have to travel outside of their own communities when they are starting off in the sport for which they will reach such acclaim. The Taoiseach should address that from his office.

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