Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to reflect on the result of last night's football match. The Irish team did not have a single player from one of the top six teams in the English Premiership. The players at the Ireland team's disposal are good players who give their hearts, but we should look at the type of player we have compared with ten or 15 years ago. Not long ago, both Ireland and Northern Ireland qualified for the European Cup. We must see if we can bring synergies by establishing one all-Ireland team. We had no player of the class of Eriksen in our squad. He scored two goals. We did not have a player capable of scoring.

On homelessness, all attention and focus must be on the homeless person him or herself. I am concerned that we are getting into a degree of territorialism between various groups which deal with the homeless. Everyone who is involved in the area is well intentioned. The volunteer who goes out to look after homeless people is well intentioned. What we need is for everyone to work together. The issue is not funding, it is dealing with the issues of particular individuals. We should deal with the needs of the individual homeless person and work together, rather than one person saying one thing and someone else saying the other. The whole focus must be on the person who is homeless.