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 The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr. Shane Ross, TD, and the Minister with responsibility for Sport, Mr. Brendan Griffin, TD, congratulate the Irish Showjumping Team on winning the Longines FEI Nations Cup Final and on qualifying for the Olympic Games.

Minister Ross said:

I am delighted to congratulate the Irish Showjumping Team on their magnificent achievement in at the Longines FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona and on qualifying for the Olympic Games. It has been a wonderful 12 months for Irish Equestrian Sport with our Eventing Team winning the team Silver at last year’s World Equestrian Games in North Carolina and in the process qualifying for Tokyo and our Dressage Team qualifying for the Games for the first time ever at the European Championships in Rotterdam in August this year. The team performed brilliantly under enormous pressure today to qualify for Tokyo and they can now focus all their energies on preparing for next year’s Games.

Minister Griffin said:

Congratulations to the Irish Showjumping Team on winning the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona and also on qualifying for the Olympics. It is the first time since Athens in 2004 that Ireland has qualified a show jumping team for the Games and is a huge boost to everyone involved in the sport. The team of Peter Moloney, Paul O’Shea, Darragh Kenny and Cian O’Connor and manager Rodrigo Pessoa can feel very proud of their performance and I would like to wish them all the best in their preparations for Tokyo.