Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the woman who is ranked number one in the world in the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI, track cycling championships. We rarely hear anything about women in sport. Men always take the limelight. Caroline Ryan is ranked number 1 in the world track championships and I wish her the best of luck in her pursuits. She was an accomplished oarswoman with the Garda rowing club and went on to represent Ireland in that sport in 2005 to 2007. Five years ago she changed to cycling. Top ranking in the UCI world track championship is no mean accomplishment. Hopefully, she will get all the help she requires from the Irish Sports Council and, indeed, every other council here.

We regularly talk in the Chamber about youngsters drinking. I am a great fan and supporter of the GAA. It is in every community and does great work. However, there are children who do not participate in team sports. Cycling, mountain biking, mountaineering and so forth are also good for them. We should have a debate, with representatives of Coillte present, about ensuring that we are using our mountains for mountain biking and to facilitate other sports. There are groups of cyclists who are willing and able to draw up tracks for their sport. Indeed, they have done it without help from anybody. In England, the associations of cyclists have come together and volunteered to do this. Cyclists in Ireland have done it as well without much help. The idea is to get children interested and assist them in participating in sports that are not discussed as much as football, rugby and so forth-----