Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

This section and section 10 are similar in that they are about tax relief for sporting organisations or elite athletes. I do not oppose the proposals in either this section or in section 10 but there is a wider issue, given that two sections of the Finance Bill deal with tax incentives on donations for capital projects or to bodies. It is great that people are making donations to sporting organisations or for particular capital projects. This section deals with the fact that if it is a particular project, there has to be unique identifier code. It could be for the development of the Finn Harps stadium, which we are still waiting for, or it could be for something else. The problem here is that in some affluent areas of the State, there are people who are maybe more able to make those donations to support in a larger way the organisations or the clubs, but there are many areas where that is not the case. The Minister's own constituency is a case in point of where capital funding has been granted. Drumcondra AFC is an example of that. Where are they going to get the matched funding from? When we talk about sports facilities in working-class areas, the problem here is there is a wider issue.

The tax code is there to support people who can actually contribute to the development of a stadium in an area or whatever it is; it could be a golf club, a tennis club or whatever else. It could be a capital project. Through the tax code, a donation can be made to support the development of that sports facility. That is good. I welcome it and I am not opposing it. The problem is when we look at the need for the sport, club or facilities in a more working-class area where fewer people are in a position to make that donation. We have projects right across the State which have been granted significant and sizeable amounts of funding that are not moving ahead because of the co-funding requirement. In some cases, these co-funding requirements will be met through measures like this that will encourage people to make a donation and the beneficiary will benefit from the fact that the individual is not claiming the relief themselves. However, that is not the case in a lot of the country. I just want to raise that point. I do not have an issue with sections 8 and 10. They will benefit sporting organisations and clubs, but the situation, if not this measure specifically, has led to an uneven playing field in relation to the development of facilities across the State. Where they are needed most, in our working-class communities, they are finding it difficult to meet the challenges of co-financing and they do not have people who are living in their locality and who are in a position to dig deep into their pockets and to make donations to those clubs of the size that is required to develop the type of facilities that are required. Obviously, people are very generous and make donations as they can. I wanted to raise that point on this section.