By chance.

I went into, I went into, um, uh, I was catching up with a few of the Wallabies boys, um, and I was just sitting down having a coffee with Fraser, and, uh, he was in the hotel, so he just popped over and said g'day, and we had a good little chat.

Um, and I let him know I'm available.

So he was, uh, he was...

He seemed like he was, uh, excited to hear that in a little way.

But, uh, at the same time, like, I feel like the boys are stepping up well.

Um, like I thought Meredith did a lot better in this game than the French game, and I think, like, without...

Do you think there has been a lack of game management?

Uh, Jamesy, for those of us who love the GAA, and there are many of us out there, this is just an embarrassment, isn't it?

Absolutely, and I suppose everybody in Clare, um, you know, probably feels that sense of embarrassment, Shane, that, you know, it was within our county and one of our referees.

And at a time in the game when, you know, the games can't proceed every weekend without the people like John giving up their time and volunteering.

Um, and it, it's, it's becoming ever harder to source and, and retain referees, and this certainly doesn't do that cause any good.

So look, but I think there's just everywhere in Clare, you know, is just, I think, disgusted at, at what happened to him.

Um, you can't condone it on, on, on any, in any way, shape, or form.

And, um, I, I'd have pre- pretty good confidence in Kieran Keating, Joe Constant, who's chairman of, of, of Board and O'Pel.

I mean, obviously, this is a particularly serious incident, but do we have a problem when it comes to respect for the referee?

I mean, for anyone listening today who perhaps has a loved one, you know, lying on a trolley or sitting on a chair in CUH right now, how do we justify beds being empty in Mallow?

I don't think we can and particularly when you look at the investment that's gone into Mallow Hospital and Mallow Hospital has given such huge service to people from all over the county that have gone there and have received the best possible care and so often we hear of situations where people were frustrated or unhappy about the level of care they received but There has often been, you know, very positive stories.

And so frequently I hear of the outstanding and amazing service that's provided in Mallow General Hospital to the patients that use their services.

And, you know, if it is the case that there are beds there that are not in use, that is wrong.

That's something that has to be rectified.

But Patricia, I have to be clear and to be clear to the people of Cork East and East Cork, you know, particularly that would be utilizing the services in y'all, which is about an hour and 20 minute drive from Mallow Hospital, you know, they need to see the infrastructure development as well happening in their community.

And particularly when you have older dated buildings that, you know, importantly to reference, the Coshown building, for example, there were two other buildings built to the exact same design spec of that building, one in Fremoy and famously the Ona Cora Centre in Middleton.

Where I do have

Is there anything that really resonated that you're gonna take home?

The, the thing that I...

A couple of things that I really, really loved.

I love the fact that employee experience has come back to the fore in many, many different ways.

And so you guys are launching the EX Index, which I never thought would happen.

You know, shout out to Sam Stern again.

We, we tried to launch this perhaps eight years ago when employee experience was, I guess, super nascent back then.

[laughs]

Maybe a young James O'Connor, you know, like, uh, he's got that kinda vibe about him, doesn't he, at the moment?

Honestly, like I think all three, like I thought Taha played really well.

I thought he controlled the game well.

He looked quick on his feet.

He made good decisions.

I thought Ruben, like that's the best game-- Not the best game I've seen him play, but you saw some of those interconnected plays that he had, his acceleration off the mark, that footwork he's got late at the line.

I thought he was so class on the weekend.

Yeah, Roigard's locked in, isn't he?

I know.

And unfortunately, we learn from our mistakes and the mistakes that should not have happened, but they have, and we have to learn from them.

So the nuts and bolts of this is that we've spoken so much here about the future energy needs of our economy in Ireland.

And the news on the horizon is just not good for the next decade.

And why I'm proposing this is part of a 10-, 15- and 20-year strategy for...

Starting off with my bill, working in conjunction with the likes of Minister James Lawless in the Department of Higher Education, the reason I mention him is that we need to build up a national skill set of expertise that can actually work in this sector and can service the economy that would be created surrounding it, creating thousands and thousands of jobs and huge opportunity for higher education in Ireland.

And then moving into the construction phase and bringing them into operation.

know he said that he's supportive of the bill but he didn't say whether he wanted it to come in.

It's a frightening prospect,

isn't it? It is.

And my key function in the Iraq, this is I'm chairperson of the Enterprise Committee, Employment and Tourism.

And I sit on that with colleagues from both parties represented beside me.

We've been discussing this for some time about Ireland's exposure in relation to our corporation tax receipts.

If I'm not mistaken, I think they've climbed over to up to 36 billion.

if I stand to be corrected.

Okay.

Why not do that, James?

Why not? That's a robust plan, isn't it? That's a good idea.

Every hour in Ireland, we spend 1 million euros on fossil fuels.

And something has to give.

And to be honest with you, if I just was to put on my apolitical hat here, and in the good of the country, something systematic needs to change.

And, you know, when you take decisions, put yourself in the minister's shoes, you're not going to see the fruit of that for at least a decade, because you're talking about enormous capital infrastructure projects into the many billions.

You're talking about an enormous retrofit projects of the existing grid infrastructure in Ireland, which is separate to generation infrastructure, is also hugely underserviced and under enormous pressure.

The fines will actually hamstring us.

Did, did you want to get out, so to speak, in Australia?

Yeah, I wanted to get out.

Like, I was just...

I felt like I'd...

A lot of external pressure had been sort of put on me, and I felt like I was, not the scapegoat, but a little, a little bit after that first Lions series in 2013.

Plus I wasn't playing my best footy at that stage, and I was like, "Look, I just want experience." Like, that's a beautiful thing about rugby.

You can go all around the world.

Yeah.