Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In the past week, Jack Charlton was laid to rest and the East Belfast GAA club was officially launched. One may initially feel that those two events do not have an awful lot in common but there is a common denominator: they did, and will, bring people together. Sport brings people together. It has a dividend in a sense of community, health and mindfulness. It also has a business dividend because sport is an employer and a revenue generator. Sport brings people together. Some Munster, Connacht and Leinster fans visited Belfast for the first time to watch interprovincial rugby matches. Almost more important, our friends from the North also came south for the first time.

Soccer, the beautiful game, is struggling in this country. Jack Charlton was an iconic Leeds United figure and English international footballer. He was a quintessential English sportsman whom we took into our hearts as one of our own. If one ever wanted to see a crest that tells a thousand words, one should look at the crest of East Belfast GAA club. England, Ireland and Ulster Scots are represented on it. Sport can bring people together, yet the beautiful game is on its knees at the moment. I ask the two governments on this island to consult with clubs and UEFA. I am actively pursuing this and ask other Senators to come with me and come up with suggestions as to how we can reinject vigour into soccer on the island of Ireland. An all-island league is one way to go. Perhaps the winner of the league should be entered into the first round proper of the English or Scottish FA cups.

The Seanad can be a catalyst for good in that regard. We bemoaned the fact that no Northern Irish person was appointed a Member of the Upper House a few weeks ago. We might have a role to play here. We must bring back the spirit of Barry McGuigan, the Clones Cyclone, a Monaghan man who was adopted in Ulster Hall. Let us work together and let the Upper House be a catalyst. We do not have a Northern Irish representative among us but that means we should work twice as hard. We bemoan the absence of such a representative but I am redoubling my efforts to do all we can to help bring our people together in a positive way.