Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I wish to ask a supplementary question on the issue of rates. Both the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park received rates bills that were five times larger than last year, with rates for the Aviva Stadium rising from €437,000 to €2.36 million and those for Croke Park rising from €528,000 to €2.112 million. This issue affects the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA, the Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU, and the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, key bodies which involve tens of thousands of people throughout Ireland. These increases will amount to €3.5 million, which is a reduction of more than 50% of the funding these organisations received from the Irish Sports Council last year. This will affect the quality of front-line services these bodies provide in respect of training and programmes. Did the Department take into account the significant increases in rates, for which the IRFU, GAA and FAI would be liable when deciding on the cut to the Irish Sports Council? It certainly should have done.

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