Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am sorry in many ways that we have to discuss this amendment at all. In the Minister's previous office the Equal Status Bill was landmark legislation for which he will be honourably remembered. Many golf clubs throughout the country have acted in conformity with its provisions. When the Taoiseach opened a new clubhouse in Tipperary, for example, the club was in the process of changing its rules to accommodate the new situation.

We are apt to forget the role women played in the development of golf in Ireland. Some golf clubs were founded by women. My attention was drawn to this because a relative of mine was a secretary of the Warrenpoint Golf Club. The Golfing Union of Ireland is an all-Ireland body. In some ways the golfing union was far more liberal in the first part of the 20th century than in the latter part. Golf clubs had women members and club officers and the relative to whom I refer stated in 1922 that he hoped a lady might be captain "for nowadays, young ladies are masters of hounds and why should they not also be Captains of Golf Clubs". Alas, however, in 1947, Warrenpoint, Malahide and Enniscrone were told that under rule XVI: "No Irish Golf Club, the Constitution of which, either expressly or by implication, confers on women the right to attend or vote at any annual or special general meeting of such Club shall be deemed to have a constitution approved by the Union", and were obliged to take immediate steps to exclude women. The ladies present at the club meeting "voiced their protest to this in very strong terms. In the past they had been very energetic Club supporters in all the social and sporting activities, fund-raising, arranging dances and providing teas". There is an air of "back to the future" about this.