Paraic Brady (Fine Gael)

I congratulate all our sporting icons who took part in the World Athletics Championships. As we saw on our televisions in recent days, we have some array of talent coming on in the future. It would be remiss of me not to mention our Longford man, Cian McPhillips, who was very unlucky not to win a medal on Saturday. He is only 23 years old. He was 0.2 seconds off the bronze medal place and set another personal best and an Irish record. The future of sport and the 800 m is very bright. I wish Cian and all the athletes, those who won medals and those who were disappointed not to do so, the very best of luck. We have all spoken about the Irish flag and how it is betrayed but when we see people wearing the Irish jersey abroad, it certainly gives us great pride, especially the people of Longford. They gathered in our local hall last Saturday to watch Cian run. It was great to see all the young kids there who idolise this 23-year-old and what he has done. Let us hope that the future is very bright and that some college in America or somewhere else picks him up. He is a special talent.