Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will try not to play the ball forward. We are all disappointed at the bid. It was not for the want of trying by the sporting organisations, the Government and communities and sporting bodies North and South. It is disappointing. We should look at World Rugby's critique of how it awards the Rugby World Cup. Perhaps that should be questioned rather than Ireland's bid in terms of the type of country preferred, the amount of money available and the stadiums.

The all-Ireland soccer team is a matter for the Irish Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland. Obviously, we are disappointed. It is a perennial chestnut that comes up when one of us does not do well but the other does well.That is sport, a Chathoairligh, as you know. You played yourself, and you are a fine sportsman. You win some, you lose some. It is better to have tried than not to have tried at all. I refer to the aspiration and the ambition we have. Senator Richmond has brought up the need to have a debate on not just infrastructure, but on sport in general. It binds us as a nation. It unites us, but it also divides us, as we saw this morning with the flippant, populist nonsense we heard from Senator Leyden. I willnot dwell on the issue of the all-Ireland hockey team and the Commonwealth Games but the all-Ireland hockey team-----