Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

In dealing with the various points made, I will begin with Deputy Nash's because it is most on my mind at the moment. Section 10 can apply only to donations made to national governing bodies. Under section 8, which refers to section 847A, donations can be made to a wider variety of sports organisations.

On the general point made, the Deputies have already acknowledged the breadth of sports capital funding already being made available. It is reasonable to ask that if the State and taxpayer are making significant funding available for the delivery of sports facilities at local level, a contribution be made by the club or sports organisation receiving it. That is appropriate and can help with the ownership and long-term maintenance of facilities.

I am delighted Deputy Doherty raised Drumcondra AFC. I am familiar with the challenges it has faced. It accessed sports capital funding in the past and this has played a very important role in its development. The same applies to other football, GAA and athletics clubs in Dublin Central alone and also to clubs in every other constituency. While the requirement to match funding can pose a difficulty, there are good reasons for it. The majority of clubs I am familiar with do find a way of drawing down the sports capital funding made available to them, and that is certainly the case in Dublin Central.

With regard to the operation of this scheme, it is important to bring some information to bear on the discussion we are having here. At the moment, 70% of donations made to access the scheme are below €300. The full cost of the scheme in the last year for which full information is available was €800,000. The total number of taxpayer donations in 2021 was 1,289, and of those only 34 had a value greater than €1,000. Therefore, the vast majority of donations made are in the order of hundreds of euro. I imagine they are made by people associated with clubs with a view to contributing towards what is needed if the facilities are to go ahead.