John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue which relates to the significant hike in rates levied on major sports stadia in Dublin and which will have major knock-on effects if replicated throughout the country in sports and voluntary organisations. In the past few weeks the two major stadia in Dublin - the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park - have been given a rates bill that shows a fivefold increase on the figure for last year. The bill for the Aviva Stadium has gone from €437,000 to €2.36 million, while the bill for Croke Park has gone from €528,000 to €2.112 million. For the three sports involved - GAA, rugby and soccer - the increase will amount to €3.5 million which accounts for well over 50% of the funding the organisations received from the Irish Sports Council to deliver various coaching programmes for members. The organisations provide massive business and economic benefits for our capital city and cities, towns and villages. If this is happening in the case of national stadia, there will surely be implications for sports and community organisations throughout the country. As a result of the economic position, the Government has had to reduce the investment in sport for a number of years. All of these organisations have volunteers who provide not just an economic but also a social benefit for communities, involving the young and not so young. They promote positive sports activities. One might argue that these organisations can well afford to do this, but in the case of the GAA, for example, 86% of funding into Croke Park is disseminated through the units at grassroots level. These stadia are of large economic benefit to the State via sports tourism and events such as the Rugby World Cup and it is hoped the likes of the European soccer championships could bring millions of euro into the country. We are, therefore, shooting ourselves in the foot with these massive rates bills.

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