This year's St. Patrick's Day celebrations have come and gone. I was proud of the images of Ireland beamed across the world, as well as seeing many iconic buildings throughout the world, including the White House, being lit up in green. It was a marketer's dream to promote such a positive image of Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day this year was also a great celebration for mná na hÉireann. We already have had Katie Taylor and Fionnuala Britton being wonderful in winning Olympic gold medals and European championships. The ladies rugby team on St. Patrick's Day provided a wonderful image for women's sport in Ireland. I congratulate the Irish women's rugby team on their grand slam win. It was not until they defeated England for the first time that they came into the wider public domain. I was pleased RTE decided to broadcast the game against Italy live. The women's rugby team outstripped the men's rugby team, if one will excuse the pun. The first Irish rugby team to win a grand slam was captained by Karl Mullen and the second by Brian O'Driscoll. It was mine and Senator Paul Coghlan's namesake, Fiona Coghlan, who captains the women's team. Yesterday, in an interview I heard her say how she was inspired by the likes of Sonia O'Sullivan, Katie Taylor and Fionnuala Britton.

Not to mention Eamonn Coghlan.

She was inspired by these wonderful women. The message the women's rugby team brought back is really good for all women's sports in Ireland. I congratulate the Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU, on its announcement yesterday of a €1.1 million annual investment in women's rugby with the view to qualifying for the 2016 women's rugby sevens at the Rio Olympic Games. I would encourage the Irish Sports Council to continue its investment in women's sport in Ireland which has proved to be successful with the investments made to date. Well done to the Irish women's rugby team.