Jim Glennon (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

It is a pleasure to speak on the Bill and to congratulate the Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, and his officials, especially Mr. Con Haugh, on all the achievements that have been made over recent years in sport in Ireland, particularly the very positive and benign influence of the Government in the major developments that are taking place.

Listening to some of my colleagues on the opposite side, I wonder on what planet they live. Deputy Crowe should realise that it is not possible to have an Olympic swimming pool in every village. He appeared to think it was. He also appeared to want running tracks at every crossroads, which is not the way life is. Deputy Gogarty complained about the amount of money allocated by the Department to horse and greyhound racing. Obviously he is not a fan of either sport, because anyone who goes to either a race meeting or a dog track and witnesses the economic and sporting activity which takes place hand in glove will realise the advantage this is, not just to the economy but to the social fabric of the country, especially rural Ireland.

Section 26 of the Bill is a standard provision requiring the authority to provide itself with a seal. Perhaps that would be the Green Party's best contribution to the Bill. Deputy Sargent has a whole sanctuary of them at Garretstown.

See this speech in context