Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is very unfair of the Minister of State to point the finger at the Independents. I raised it with him here last week, and we know what happens with the amendments and all the different issues with them. When we put in submissions or amendments, the Government invariably rules them out, one after the other. That is what happens.

How could you put down an amendment to this anyway? Gambling and fundraising are two different things. They should not be entwined at all. This must be taken out of it. If the Minister of State is telling us that he is going to send it to the Seanad and that he will put in amendments and at the same time he expects us to vote for it here tonight, he has another guess coming to him. We spoke against it last week. At least Deputy Ring from Fine Gael spoke against it tonight but where are the rest of the Minister of State's comrades? He is pointing up behind him and he does not even know they are not there.

How nonsensical is the Government getting? It is just not with it at all. To think that fundraising and gambling are entwined, the Minister of State is off his rocker altogether. The poor clubs are volunteering and trying to raise funds to take children to matches, get jerseys for them and all the different things that are needed to help them, and then the Government tries to stop them or put some block on then. God almighty, enough harm is done without trying to do this. The Government is hitting the heart of both rural and urban Ireland. There town clubs are trying to survive as well. I am asking the Government to defer this until it gets its act together and brings it in here before us. We will see what we will do with it then when we see what the Government is proposing. I am not voting for this and our group is not voting for this.

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