Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raised this with the Minister last Wednesday evening. I cannot understand how fundraising as we know it has become part of the Bill. I know about the fundraising that goes on in clubs. Most of the work done in local GAA and soccer clubs is done by volunteers who give of their time free of charge. There are things that have to be paid for, such as insurance, travel to games, taking care of youngsters and hiring buses and things like that. Those things cost money, and that is what fundraising is for.

One weekly lotto in Gneevegullia in takes place every Monday night, where seven or eight lads carry out the draw to fundraise for their club. On any night in Killarney, I could meet five different people selling tickets for their local GAA club, including Spa, Kilcummin, Dr. Crokes and Killarney Legion. My father used to do the lotto every Friday night in a bar in Kilcummin for the Mastergeeha soccer club.

God almighty, although this Government has done its share of good things in its time, it has done many bad things and has hurt rural communities. This, however, will cap them all. The Government will go down in history for it and will be buried in history. If it thinks people in the places I have mentioned are going to take this lying down, such that they cannot have their weekly lotto to help their local GAA, soccer or basketball club, it has another guess coming to it. This Bill is hitting at the heart and soul of rural communities, and indeed urban communities, which are also struggling to survive.

The radio bingo helps the Kerry–Cork link bus. I was involved a few weeks ago in a vintage run from Millstreet to Killarney. So many people gave of their time and supported the event. We thank Radio Kerry for what it has done and continues to do.

The Minister of State has asked us to let the Bill pass here tonight on the grounds that it will be amended in the Seanad. As a Deputy elected to Dáil Éireann, I will not accept the notion of giving the Bill the green light this evening and depending on the Seanad to reverse or amend it. The Government should get it right here first. I, for one, will not be voting for it in its current form, and I make no bones about that. This is totally wrong.

Why is the Government including fundraising as a form of gambling? We asked the Government about online gambling a few minutes ago. Something like that must be dealt with, but not clubs that are fundraising to develop our youth, get them interested and take them away from undesirable substitutes. We really appreciate the volunteers, chairpersons, secretaries, treasurers and others who help with youngsters. They need time. We appreciate all the volunteering that has been done by the likes of Derry Healy, Ritchie McAuliffe and the O'Keeffes in Gneevgullia. They all deserve great credit. The same applies to people in Rathmore and others right around the whole place. They are doing considerable work for the younger generation, and we must not interfere with this in any way. The Government should take its nose out of it and do what needs to be done. It should stay away from the clubs.

We have received phone call after phone call all day and all the week asking what we are at. The Government should stay away from fundraising altogether and deal with the issue of online gambling, because that is where the trouble is. The clubs are not a problem, nor are the volunteers. They need to be supported rather than blocked through this Bill. I will not let the Bill go to the Seanad, as has been requested; I will be voting clearly against it, full stop, because it should not be mentioned at all.

The people do not trust the Government, and that is God's honest truth. They saw what the Government tried to do through the referendums. It tried to cod them. With this Bill, it could be the same. We must spell out clearly what this Bill is about and take fundraising out of it completely because it has nothing to do with it. The Government should steer away from it. The people do not trust the Government and are asking what is going on and whether the whole lot of us, including me, have gone mad. I have said I am not going mad, that I am trying to stop the Bill and that I spoke against it last week. Until I drop dead, I will stay talking about it.

The Bill will interfere with sports clubs, including GAA clubs, and all the other various clubs. They have only a few ways to fundraise, and the way in question was the one they found to be successful. Most clubs do it this way and that is how they stay going. The few that do not are in trouble. I appeal to the Government to get it right before it expects Deputies here to vote for it. I am not voting for it as it is.

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