Mr. Páraic Duffy:

Deputy Phelan raised some very good points about local clubs. In a way Deputy Harrington answered the questions. At local level we would not want to see clubs holding their AGMs, etc., in bars. Most do not because we have clear guidelines on that. Generally speaking, the attitude is responsible. Deputy Phelan came at this from an interesting angle and made some good points.

In response to Deputy Maloney, as one of the non-drinkers to whom Deputy Ellis referred I can say that we are starting from the position that alcohol is not inherently bad. People should enjoy it. We all want a balanced approach and we do not always have that in this country. If someone could show us evidence that alcohol sponsorship of sport is contributing to an increase in, or to the level of, drinking I would like to hear those arguments. In their absence I strongly believe that Government should be investing in education. The money that the GAA has invested with the help of the HSE has had a really positive return in terms of changing attitudes towards the use of alcohol among people in the GAA. It has been extremely positive.

That is the way I would like us to proceed.

In terms of the figures, I had the same difficulty as Mr. Delaney. We have only one sponsor at national level. The amounts of money involved at local level are small. It usually amounts to a local bar buying a set of jerseys. We have got only one sponsor. I would be happy to have that sponsorship figure included but I am not going to let the FAI and the IRFU know what we are getting from one sponsor. However, I would be happy to have the figure included as part of a cumulative figure.