Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We even have Hollywood copying us now and that shows the power of the GAA as well.

I use this opportunity to say comhghairdeas to a good friend of mine and fellow Athy person, Hilda Breslin, uachtarán of the Camogie Association. Integration and how important it will be has been mentioned and the uachtarán has lead on that, but I wish Mary McAleese the very best. It is important this happens for the reasons many Members have outlined. It was 20 years ago I got involved in coaching my club's first ladies football team. It was a huge event. We won our first championship. We got beaten in the first two years, and beaten well, but in the third year we won our first championship and that was the biggest achievement that club has. The reason it was the biggest achievement is the ladies who came into the team transformed the club. They transformed Castlemitchell GFC with the professionalism and enthusiasm they brought to it. That has been replicated throughout every GAA club and it is so important we integrate for the future of the GAA.

I will finish with a couple of things. I pay tribute to the volunteers, because without them, as the uachtarán said, we would not have an association. That is the bottom line. People can go online and give out about what they like.At the end of the day, though, those volunteers are the lifeline of all those GAA clubs and they keep them going. It is important to say this.

I will finish on something the Cathaoirleach and other Members will have heard me say before concerning referees. We need a national campaign in this regard. We must encourage the Government and RTÉ to run a campaign highlighting the abuse of referees. We must have a national conversation about this abuse. This is where we must start to address this problem. Mr. McCarthy is correct that it must start in households and in GAA clubs, but this can only come about if people see the issue in front of them. I would like to leave everybody with the following image: what would happen if we all turned up at Croke Park some day, but there was no referee and we all had to turn around and go home? Nobody wants to see that day become a reality. We need this national campaign.

Finally, some people wish for a white Christmas. I am wishing for Kildare to win an All-Ireland championship.