Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)

May I also offer my condolences on the tragedy of the five young lives lost on the road. It is an unimaginable thing for a whole community, for their families and friends and I want to offer my sympathies to them.

I also wish to share in congratulating the men's national team and its manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson. It has been an incredible few days for Irish sport. It has unified the country in a way that only sport can by bringing people together and celebrating remarkable success. It gives us all a bit of hope going into the longer evenings ahead of play-offs next March. There were young people going into the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday evening to see Ronaldo at the end of his career but now they have new heroes and they are Irish heroes who have grown up across the country, with the likes of Troy Parrott who has done an incredible job of delivering when we needed it most in the crucial last seconds of the game in Budapest on Sunday. I want to thank the whole team. I hope we can support them come March. I also wish North Macedonia the best of luck this evening as well because it would be very helpful to us if it gets a result.

In my remaining moments, I want to highlight the incredible work of the Sunflower Children's Hospice which was launched yesterday. It has already raised €7 million for this hospice which will give great dignity to and care for families and children in their hour need. It is the first children's hospice to be built outside Dublin. Another €7 million is to be raised, so it is no mean feat. It is being led by volunteers and an incredible team of Martina Jennings, Laurita Blewitt and a wider committee of a board of directors and staff which is supported by volunteers in every charity shop of Mayo Roscommon Hospice across the region. I want to acknowledge and highlight that. I wish them well and look forward to supporting them in seeing this project realised.