McNulty’s praise for sport stars at Stormont

Citing the Olympic motto, ‘citius, altius, fortius — communiter’, which means ‘faster, higher, stronger — together’, Mr McNulty said “the success of our Olympians in Paris has been nothing short of extraordinary”.

He added that the “passion, grit, determination and conviction of our local competitors has been matched only by the pride of their families and local communities”.

The SDLP representative told the chamber: “It was inspiring to see communities rally behind all our local competitors, irrespective of whether they represented Team Ireland or Team GB.

"It is vital for all of us in the Chamber today to do more than just join a celebratory chorus. Sporting excellence in our local community is on full display after the record medal haul, and I believe that it is incumbent on us to seize on that momentum and harness those opportunities.

"That is why I have asked the Communities Minister to engage directly with the Irish Government on how to harness the full potential of their recent announcement of a €400 million investment in sports and infrastructure. Sport can take us all and make us all faster, higher, stronger and bring us together.”

Mr McNulty stated that with 13 medals having made their way back to the island of Ireland “it is abundantly clear that we, as a people, punch well above our weight on the international stage”.

He continued: "I commend the Minister on having a joint ceremony here for the Paralympians and Olympians, which would be a wonderful festival of sport in this place. The best way that the Assembly can celebrate the success of our Paris Olympians is to lay the foundation of success for future generations who have been inspired by the success of our local champions.

"I will give an honourable call-out to our Armagh man Daniel Wiffen and the joy that he brought on top of the orange pride that we already experienced with the All-Ireland success.”