Eamonn Coghlan (Independent)

It was a great honour for me to be nominated by the Taoiseach to the Seanad. One of my friends said to me, "Eamonn, you might have been chairman of the boards, broken world records and won world championships, but that is all in the past. You are now a Senator." It is with great honour that I join Senators. All they have to do now is break a few world records to keep up with me.

Sport and tourism are two areas of interest to me. Sport is of interest for obvious reasons and tourism for reasons Senators are not, necessarily, aware of. Senator John Crown made his maiden speech on the first day of the session. He said he was not sure whether that was the appropriate day on which to do so. He had not been expecting to speak. I was not expecting to make my maiden speech today. However, today is 1 June, the first day of summer. What better way to make my maiden speech in the Seanad?

Senators are all aware of my interest in sport. Tourism is also very close to my heart. In 1977 I was employed by Bord Fáilte. I was hired by the director general, Mr. Joe Malone to act as youth and education representative. I looked after the foreign tour operators who came to Ireland, teaching English as a foreign language to European students. I also worked in the United States when I asked to move to America to pursue a running career. I worked with Stonehill College in Massachusetts and helped to bring the first Irish studies programme from the United States to UCD, whereby students could transfer their credits back to the United States while learning about Ireland. Joe Malone's purpose was to use Eamonn Coghlan and the ambassadorial aspect of his running career to promote Irish tourism to the students of the United States. He felt that visiting students would be the future leaders in the business, academic and political industries and become ambassadors for Irish tourism when they returned to their countries and businesses.

In 1978 there were no grants for sportspeople. The only way I could get time off to compete around the world was to do a deal with my boss in Bord Fáilte. "Discover Ireland" has been talked about as the promotional theme for Irish tourism. Back then I presented to my boss a T-shirt with the words "Discover Ireland" on the front and "It's Great It's Green" on the back. I do not know if they used that theme. However, I received permission to travel the world wearing this T-shirt which I presented to athletes such as John Walker, Don Quarrie and Lasse Virén. These athletes were running around wearing "Discover Ireland - It's Great It's Green" T-shirts.