Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like the Minister of State to address that question because this is a very serious matter. If there is going to be any change, that means it is not staying the same. These organisations are totally and utterly dependent on such fundraising. Deputy McGrath mentioned those involved in horse racing and greyhound racing. They have their concerns too. I listen and speak to them quite often. I would hate to think we would support people who gamble to excess and lose their livelihoods, but we hope there would always be help for people like that. However, I am very concerned about what will happen if the Minister of State goes ahead tonight with anything other than withdrawing the measure relating to the community, voluntary and sporting sectors in this country.

I can listen to reason elsewhere but I certainly cannot listen to reason here. I see what happens when there is a shortfall when it comes to paying for the tax and insurance if a local community and voluntary organisation has to buy a car so it can provide meals on wheels to people. The Minister of State will not come up with the shortfall. I do not mean the Minister of State personally, but the Government. Therefore, the community has to come up with the shortfall. I will explain to the Minister of State in two seconds how Cancer Connect in west Cork works. I know because I have been on the board of Local Link, as it is now called, and I have never taken a brown cent for it. When I mention "boards" some people freak out because they think money is being made but I never took a brown cent for being on a board. I am proud to be on that board because it delivers for the people. Cancer Connect does a lotto. It does not charge patients to take them for cancer treatment to Cork every day from Castletownbere, Goleen and other places throughout west Cork such as Bandon and Clonakilty, and it brings them home. However, there is a lotto going. People say they will give a few quid to the lotto to support the cause because it saves lives. To a degree, it saved my life, and the lives of many people. Some people are delighted to have the transfer service because they may not have another way to travel. Now the Minister of State is saying there is going to be absolutely no change to that. Is he saying that if the lotto is not won and it goes up to €10,000, there will be no change to that? I think he is wrong. I think there is going to be a change. The Minister of State cannot shove that in under the mat and get away with it. The Government is after promising, through a Fianna Fáil Deputy in west Cork, funding of €50,000, but it has not come. The Deputy continues to promise it but the funding has never arrived. It will be dished out another few times to see if the party can win a seat. That is misleading people. I know the facts. The funding has not come yet. Maybe it will come but this has been going on for the past 12 months.

The point I am trying to make is that the Minister of State cannot take money from organisations that are delivering. That is what he is going to do if he disrupts the current situation. All that will do is add another layer of bureaucracy. People are sitting around a table doing something voluntary and asking what they have to do to survive. The Minister of State has no idea about what happens in places like Ballydehob, Bandon, Clonakilty and Bantry. People are out fundraising every day. They are out with buckets and doing lotto at night. The Government is making their lives as difficult and miserable as is humanly possible. It is no wonder people are walking away from voluntary organisations. The Minister of State has got to take this provision out of the Bill immediately. If he does not, it will never be forgotten.

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