Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the fantastic athletes we have at the moment, especially our relay team last night. They were up against the Dutch, who are such wonderful runners and were big favourites to win this race. Our relay team of Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy, Sophie Becker and Sharlene Mawdsley are coming home with silver medals. It is so exciting to watch and creates such a feel-good factor for the country. It makes us very proud as Irish people to listen to coverage on RTÉ radio this morning and hear family members and others so excited about this, as well as the ladies themselves. It really gives you a sense of great pride in your country and in your people. It also points out how important the sports capital grants are for the various sports in the country and the importance of supporting our athletes, as this Government is doing. Many more fine athletes are going to come along because finance is being put into it, the coaching is expert and basically, we are now coming up as probably in the top two or three in the world. Maybe at an appropriate time we should honour these people in whatever way we should, because it is a magnificent period for Ireland and these athletes are doing a wonderful job.