Charlie McCreevy (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

By definition, an amateur sportsperson does not derive an income from that activity. Capital allowances are brought in to incentivise various activities to which reference was made earlier. I brought in the most far reaching change in my first Finance Act by ring fencing the reliefs. There was more pressure on me to change that proposal than many others, which had a higher profile.

The recommendation proposes tax relief against the income of sportspersons from their jobs. Many thousands of people are involved in voluntary activity outside the sporting arena. They do tremendous work and are role models in their communities. They give up a great deal of time at great expense. How could I justifiably say those people should not be recognised in terms of special tax credit against their work income if I granted it to elite amateur sportspersons? It is not a small relief. The personal tax credit for 2004 was only €1,520. The proposed extra tax relief under this recommendation is €2,000, which equates to €10,000 in income for a standard rate taxpayer and is, therefore, a substantial relief.

Aside from the quantum of the relief, I cannot go along with the principle it is proposed to establish. I have been clear in both Houses about this matter and Members should read what I said. This is not something I will enter in the tax code. The change in 2002 for professional sportspersons, which has been alluded to, relates to their income from their professional activities, whether they are jockeys, rugby players or boxers, and the relief is given at the end of their sporting lives so that they will have something at the end. Most of their careers are short. They can pick their best ten years going back to the 1990-91 tax year and re-calculate their tax liability under the new provision. They cannot write off their tax liabilities. They pay their tax liability similar to everybody else annually but, at the end of their sporting lives, their liability is re-calculated. It has been beneficial, even in the recent past.

My belief regarding publicity is that if people have an image of somebody, there is no point trying to kill it. I have seldom tried to correct the record in this regard. However, some of the professional jockeys to whom Senator McDowell referred live in County Kildare, but the majority live in a different constituency to mine, Kildare South. I have represented a semi-Dublin constituency following the last two general elections. I hate killing a good story. I would kill my image as a right winger altogether if I keep going on with some of this stuff. I do not want to do that because what would certain organisations, trade unionists and commentators in certain newspapers do if I lost that particular image?

I do not accept Senator Browne's recommendation and I have outlined why I cannot do so. I recognise more than most the effort put in by amateur sportspersons to their sports, particularly intercounty GAA players. They train as hard as professional athletes and harder in some circumstances. A player's job would want to be a reasonably cushy number to be able to put up with the training hurling and football intercounty panels undergo. Only two teams will win the All-Ireland championships but the other counties put in as big an effort and they never get recognition for it.