Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 2

Ireland's World Cup Performance: Statements.

The Taoiseach

As I indicated earlier, I am taking up Deputy Quinn's suggestion. Everyone in the country still feels sad about last Sunday's match, but 48 hours on, it gets a little better with the team's homecoming. I thank them individually and collectively for the enormous satisfaction and pride they gave to the country over the past four weeks in their preparations for the games and their performance in the four matches. To the officials of the FAI, and particularly Mick McCarthy, the entire panel and everyone on the staff associated with the team's well-being, I give credit, and everyone in the House thanks them. They gave a huge lift to the country and, from the youngest person to the oldest, everyone was a World Cup expert.

Their manner of exiting was heart-breaking, but at the same time, it gave everyone great pride in their achievements. They were not given much chance by the experts of qualifying from their group in the first place. They had to knock out either Portugal or the Netherlands which was not going to be easy, but they knocked out the Dutch, which was a huge achievement. To get through the first round after dealing with the controversy within the panel, about which much has been said, they had to steady themselves and then go into a tough group beginning with Cameroon, a team that was both African and Olympic champions. They had then to face Germany, one of the perennial great teams of the World Cup, and they got a spectacular draw. They were successful against Saudi Arabia before going on to meet Spain, still one of the fancied teams, although it did not look so great on Sunday, but that might change.

I thank them all for what they have done for the country. They did the country proud. They did not get the step up that we all thought they deserved, but that is for the history books. We can celebrate today that we had a team in the World Cup that reached the second round. They were unlucky to go out. They did the country proud.

Mr. Kenny

I join the Taoiseach, who is an acknowledged expert in the area of sport, in paying tribute to the Ireland team, the manager, the FAI and the supporters. They brought a sense of excitement, passion and courage to their games in the World Cup. The television shots of the supporters in the stadium after the match was a glorious personification of Ireland's personality. They also did the country proud and got us enormous credit internationally by showing the kind of people we are.

On behalf of my party, I join the Taoiseach in paying due tribute to a wonderful squad, wonderful supporters and a great team management system, despite all the difficulties. The squad represented a small country against the might of international football giants, and acquitted themselves with honour, valour and credit. For that, we will never forget them.

Mr. Quinn

I support the comments that have been made. In particular, I salute Mick McCarthy, the entire panel and the officials from the FAI for giving this nation a sense of joy and celebration in a manner that has brought together many people of diverse backgrounds to celebrate a sporting event. The composition of the team and the many accents that make up its composition is an indication of how widespread the Irish nation truly is and reinforces for us the necessity to recognise that diversity. It is appropriate that some type of formal recognition be conveyed in due course, following consultation with the relevant people.

I want to make one observation because I heard the Taoiseach and others speak on radio in relation to this. It is sad that the people of Dublin and of Ireland cannot celebrate the homecoming of the team on the streets of Dublin. It is also sad that the gardaí feel incapable of providing the necessary security to ensure people's safety. We saw our neighbours celebrate the Jubilee of the Head of their State recently with close to one million people out on the streets. Perhaps the new Minister for Justice and the Government could make inquiries as to why this celebration cannot be done safely, properly and joyfully on our streets as well. If it was safe for former President Clinton to address the people of Dublin from College Green and not pose a security risk, surely it would have been equally as safe for Mick McCarthy and the lads to come through the streets of Dublin rather than be obliged to go to the Phoenix Park for reasons that unfortunately reflect not too well on our collective efforts to provide security on what is a happy and joyful occasion.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

I join the Taoiseach and the other party leaders in paying tribute to the team. It gave us all an enormous amount of pleasure in the past few weeks. We hoped it would never end. In particular, it was a great source of inspiration for young people. Notwithstanding the controversies and the difficulties at the start, Mick McCarthy showed tremendous leadership and the team remained focused on the job in hand. I know it will get an appropriate welcome this evening, but it deserves much more. Deputy Quinn made a good suggestion, which I know the Taoiseach will consider.

For the future we can all look forward to that terrific group of Irish supporters from Australia, Japan and Korea whom we saw at the matches. I do not know where they all came from, but it was terrific to see the spirit in which they backed the team. Everybody who watched the matches in other countries must have been talking about the wonderful Irish fans. As Deputy Kenny said, they represented the spirit and personality of Ireland.

Mr. Sargent

It is with a deep sense of appreciation that I speak on behalf of all of us here, particularly the boys in green in the Dáil paying tribute to the boys in green on the football pitch.

Mr. Cullen

The Deputy should not get carried away.

Mr. Sargent

It is wonderful to be able to do this. I thank Mick McCarthy and the Irish soccer team for bringing such a sense of enjoyment, pride and solidarity to people from all backgrounds who, irrespective of their political affiliations, regard themselves as Irish. From that point of view, a great feat has been achieved, even if we did not win the World Cup.

It is important to reflect on the challenges the Irish team faced, to which they rose against enormous odds in the four games they played. That shows up in poor light the fact that the officials, in terms of the welcoming home celebrations, could not rise to the challenges they faced. While safety fears may be been expressed in 1990, a dozen years have passed in the meantime in which we could have come up with solutions.

It would have been a great achievement, for example, to bring the Irish team by helicopter to Dublin Castle, for the squad to walk down Dame Street to College Green and to have the celebrations in the city which is crying out as the capital of the country to host these celebrations. That challenge remains for another time. It should be possible to overcome the logistical problems and to give the people of Ireland the opportunity to say thanks for what was an amazing achievement.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I, too, wish to extend, on my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in this House, congratulations to the Irish team, its manager and mentors. It is important that we note and record in this House that this is a team which was not beaten on the field of play in all the games it played. That is a particularly important achievement and one that deserves recognition.

We recognise the team's tenacity, which was strong, prevalent and very much in evidence in all the games it played. It united almost all opinion throughout the land behind it. That was apparent on each day the games were played. The island as a whole almost came to a standstill. The team has done us all proud and is deserving of the celebratory nature of its welcome home to Ireland this evening.

Like Deputies Quinn and Sargent, I also wish, in a constructive tone, to encourage a visitation of the difficulties that have been referred to as leading to the almost herding of the welcome home event out to the Phoenix Park. The city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland, and its centre city area was the appropriate location for this welcome home, one that would have accorded the opportunity for a great deal more people to see firsthand the returning Irish team. That is something that needs to be addressed. I hope the situation we will see this evening will not be repeated on future occasions. I have no doubt the Taoiseach will take on board the sentiments of the nation as expressed on the airwaves in the past 48 hours.