Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Then there are Derval O’Rourke, Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly. How did this tiny country, with the resources we had put into sport, breed such fantastic sportspeople? The sportspeople of today have a lot going for them, but in the time of Senator Eamonn Coghlan, Ronnie Delaney or Christy O’Connor there was not much going for them. We have achieved a great deal as a country, of which we should be very proud.

Senator Eamonn Coghlan is dead right - sport brings a nation together; it brings counties and parishes together. I am unfortunate to be married to a Kilkenny woman and every September have to listen to what is said about the Kilkenny hurling team, about what it can and cannot do. Children are born there with a hurley. Somebody once asked a question about football in the county and is still trying to get an answer.

As this organisation develops, the emphasis will be on the youth. When I look at my rather rotund shape in the mirror in the morning, I think perhaps we should be thinking of senior citizens, too. I could do with some assistance to become involved in sport again. I have played golf on several occasions, but when I hit a golf ball, God only knows where it will go. In Japan and China elderly people are involved in sport and out early in the morning.

What expertise will members of the board be required to have? How will they apply? Will the process be open and transparent? I do not want to see a friend of the Minister being appointed chairman. I want the process to be open, in regard to which I think we can trust the Minister of State.

I agree with Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh on female sport. For two years as president of the Teachers Union of Ireland I attended both men's all-Ireland finals and then attended the ladies’ all-Ireland finals. It was really sad that Croke Park less than one quarter full for the ladies’ finals, whereas it had been packed for the men’s finals. A couple of weeks ago there were only a couple of thousand people present at the match played by our great female rugby players and their achievement was above and beyond everything else.

As our sportsmen and women excel, often in unknown sports, we become experts in these sports. Recently we were all experts in cricket. That is what sport does: it forces us to take time to learn what is going on, which is good.

I would like the Minister of State to acknowledge the volunteers, as I do, who give of their time. Without them there would be no sport. There are massive, sprawling, disadvantaged and marginalised estates and while voluntarism is one aspect, like the young man mentioned by the Minister of State in a disadvantaged area in north Dublin, I want to make sure the board will have at its core meeting the needs of the marginalised and the disadvantaged. Ireland probably has several more Eamonn Coghlans, although I doubt it, but they will never be found unless we find volunteers in these marginalised communities who will take on the task of coaching young men and women. I was in short pants when Senator Eamonn Coghlan was running, but somebody found him, nurtured him and brought him forward.