Derek McDowell (Labour)

I was never a fan of the original tax break in the Finance Bill 2002 which provides a potentially very break for people who are, generally speaking, well off in the first place. I understand the argument that their careers are relatively short but I am not sure there is any huge benefit to the public in encouraging them to stay resident in Ireland. We always suspected, with some justification, that the Minister had his eye on the kind of sportsman who is numerous in the horseracing industry in his county.

I was never a fan of the measure but nevertheless the precedent is there in the 2002 Act and the Minister has opened a Pandora's box. Having treated elite sportspeople in a particular way he was inevitably going to be subjected to pressure to extend the tax break to amateur sportspeople, with GAA players the most obvious example.

I endorse what has been said by Fine Gael colleagues about the increasing amount of effort GAA players must put in, such as the amount of time they must take off work and the income clearly foregone by those efforts. The pressures on GAA players are increasing all the time and they want to be valued. They want it expressed in a monetary way and the Minister is coming under pressure to do so. It may be that what we should be saying explicitly to the GAA — perhaps this is what the Minister is trying to do in a less explicit fashion — is that it should be looking at some way of remunerating players and that it should be honest and up front about it. There may be merit in that approach and I would welcome much greater debate on this than has occurred heretofore.

I quibble with some of the specific terms of the recommendation but the general principle, that we send a message to those playing GAA games and other sports that they are valued and perform a useful role in society which we all appreciated, has serious merit and should be examined by the Minister.

Fine Gael speakers pointed to the blatant hypocrisy of Fianna Fáil Deputies embracing GAA players and voting down the proposals they had devised. Unless I am mistaken some of the Minister's colleagues in the Dáil seem to be under the impression even now that he is giving the matter some thought, that he is well disposed towards it and that perhaps next year or the year after he will do something about it. Perhaps they need some clarity. The Minister's inclination towards clarity comes to the fore on such occasions. Perhaps he will help Members here and in the Dáil by stating his views clearly because unless I am completely misreading his indications, the Minister has no intention of doing anything about this.