With the Aer Lingus College Football Classic last month and Ireland’s first NFL game at the end of this one, Neale Richmond kicks off the episode with a timely gridiron tale.

“I'm not just a very old and average rugby player, but I'm the only member of the Irish Parliament who's played American football. I was a defensive tackle for the Dublin Rebels and proud holder of a Shamrock Bull medal from 2016,” says the Fine Gael TD for the Dublin Rathdown constituency and Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora.

The sport-mad Minister shares examples of the ways these imported American events boost Ireland’s economy and provide an ideal platform to advance his ministerial goals of fostering stronger international relations, diaspora engagement, and economic growth.

He tells of growing up in a Protestant family with Ulster-Scots roots, right down to his Orange Order grandfather, which hasn’t blunted his fatherly pride in his son’s embrace of Gaelic Football and the Irish language or his own commitment to a united Ireland.

“I'm a passionate United Irelander. I want our country to be united as an independent republic, as part of the European Union. I think that it’s in the interest of the over 7.2 million people of all backgrounds that live on this island,” he says, adding, “but one thing I'm really very clear about is that United Ireland will be different. It'll be a new Ireland; it won't be like the republic that I proudly live in today.”

He highlights the significance of Ireland's international aid programs particularly in Africa, the evolution of Ireland’s diaspora, and the necessity of supporting Irish citizens abroad, including the extension of voting rights for the diaspora in presidential elections.

He wraps with an unorthodox “Seamus Plug” for the United Nations, saying that despite its problems, the UN provides a critical forum for international dialogue and that the work of its agencies for Human Rights, Refugees, Family Planning for Women, and its World Food Program all remain vital.

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Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 27; Total Episode Count: 130