Results 3,141-3,160 of 3,444 for speaker:Shane Cassells

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Oct 2023)

Shane Cassells: I welcome the launch of a scholarship pilot scheme yesterday by former and Irish international footballers James McClean, Gavin Bazunu, Seamus Coleman, Kevin Long and Enda Stevens. On foot of funding they raised, €30,000 will be provided for a scholarship pilot scheme that will provide two bursaries to enable one 17-year-old boy and one 17-year-old girl to train full time with their...

Seanad: The Political Situation in Northern Ireland: Statements (25 Oct 2023)

Shane Cassells: Before I go to the next slot, I welcome former Minister of State, Áine Brady, and her group to the Gallery. I welcome her back. It is great to see her and I hope she and her group have a lovely evening in Leinster House.

Seanad: The Political Situation in Northern Ireland: Statements (25 Oct 2023)

Shane Cassells: I join Senator Black in acknowledging the presence of Professor Colin Harvey, who has published some extremely important reports on Irish unity in the EU. I acknowledge his presence here.

Seanad: The Political Situation in Northern Ireland: Statements (25 Oct 2023)

Shane Cassells: That concludes the debate on the political situation in Northern Ireland. I ask the Acting Leader when it is proposed to sit again.

Seanad: The Political Situation in Northern Ireland: Statements (25 Oct 2023)

Shane Cassells: Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Oct 2023)

Shane Cassells: There have been several contributions this morning regarding yesterday's debate in respect of Local Ireland and the presence of representatives of various local newspapers in Leinster House yesterday. It is important we have that debate. Local Ireland's focus yesterday and when it was here last year was on revenue. Last year, it looked for a reduction of VAT to 0%, which the Government...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Thank you. I extend a very warm welcome to Mya Doocey and Mia Galligan from the Mercy Secondary School in Navan. It was my honour to have met both of the students when they presented their project at the BT Young Scientist and Technology awards, where they received a commendation for their work and research. It is research that is hugely important on the very theme we are opening on here...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: That is fantastic. I have a question for Ms Galligan. Ms Doocey touched on the fact that a number of the PE teachers are male. Has there been a greater understanding and are the witnesses trying to ensure the male teachers within the school have a greater understanding as well?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Both Ms Doocey and Ms Galligan are people who participate very fully in sport. I want to ask about students in their peer group and students of their age. Both from their research and anecdotally, have they noticed some girls, such as friends and classmates, pulling away from sport because of this?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: That is from one end of the spectrum and from having talked to their fellow students on the need to address that. The witnesses spoke to our elite Olympians as part of their research. I would be interested to know what they said about the measures they were talking. Mya talked about them taking paracetamol. What discussions were had with them?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: That is a hugely important message from two young students. I will raise this when we have the pillar sports organisations in next week so they and all sports organisations in Ireland hear that and it is discussed and taken on board. I thank the witnesses for their presentation, for the work they are doing and for being inspirational, as I said to both girls, to people like my daughter, and...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: I welcome all the witnesses and thank them for their engagement today. I will ask a question of each group. I will start with Sport Against Racism. This comes in the week that an Irish under-21 team walked off the field on Monday night when playing against Kuwait because one of our substitutes was subjected to racist remarks by a Kuwaiti player. This follows the racist abuse in March of...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Absolutely. I am going to jump to Mr. Maguire and Dr. Conama. Dr. Conama was talking about attitudes and the requirement for a change of attitude. In their submission, which got down to practicalities, Dr. Conama and Mr. Maguire said that it is crucial to emphasise the need for accessible sporting facilities that cater to the specific needs of deaf athletes. We are going to be launching...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: As part of our report, when we finish it, we should articulate what has been set out in part of the submission to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media on that link between sports funding and the clear need for facilities to be accessible for the needs of the deaf community.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Yes. I will go to Mr. Walsh, who spoke about the Lets Get Visible campaign. I will be parochial and I want to commend David Gough, who is a friend a mine and who is extremely visible in that respect. I mention the work the GPA is doing this week with SuperValu in the Rainbow Laces campaign as well. Does Mr. Walsh have his rainbow laces with him?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Fantastic. I want to commend SuperValu and the GPA on the work they are doing in making sure there is a circulation of the Rainbow Laces campaign. I commend David and Hannah Looney, the Cork footballer, as well. We touched on some of the examples in visibility. It took until 2009 for Dónal Óg Cusack to be the first openly gay GAA player and it took until 2009 for the first...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: I will move to TRUST Ireland and Ms Carney, and the submission she put forward. In particular I mention the topic of sports and women that she touched on, and the participation of women and girls in sport and physical activity being at significantly lower rates than men and boys. It was done at the outset but I also welcome our witnesses who were at the previous session, Ms Mia Galligan and...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Ms Carney touched on the Irish women's soccer team, which we are looking forward to kicking off next month. There will be a lot of hoopla around that, with politicians wanting to get their pictures taken and all of that. The Minister of State responsible for sport was in my home town of Navan last week. We visited a number of soccer clubs which are looking for money for development. He...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: That was touched on too. There is a governance issue in the country that needs to change. Unfortunately, frustratingly, speaking to some of the few high-level women administrators in the country, there are not enough and, second, it comes back to making sure there is a pathway for that change to happen. It is painstakingly slow at the moment.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Inclusion in Sport: Discussion (21 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: I might make a brief point in response to the point Mr. Drury made regarding cash and the impact on communities. I fully agree. I have been involved in sport all my life, first as a kid and then professionally as a sports journalist. That is why I was pleased to see last year, for almost the first time ever, that this was taken seriously, when funding for sports clubs increased from...