Feargal Quinn (Independent)

There may be a parallel scheme but somebody who wants to come to Dublin to study peace studies or travel North can do both. This point reflected what is at work today, a bureaucratic mindset that operates on the principle that the world begins and ends at the Irish border. I would like to think that we are more broad-minded than that.

In the matter of the George Mitchell Scholarships commonsense eventually prevailed, and the Bill was suitably amended in this House. I am calling for the same kind of commonsense to be applied in this matter. Charity may begin at home, but it does not end there and there is no logical reason to discriminate in our tax regime against foreign charities. To do so reflects a blinkered and provincial thinking that does not sit well with the role we aspire to play in the world today. I do not believe that the Minister or his officials intended to do this. It happened by accident. Will the Minister give serious attention to this point because there is wealth in Ireland and we do not want to spend it all in Ireland. We want to help mankind in the rest of the world.

I am not alone in thinking this. The European Commission considers that this discrimination is contrary to the Treaty on the European Union, and it has already begun to take proceedings against Ireland in this matter. Rather than fighting this unwinnable case to the bitter end, I suggest that the Minister bow to the inevitable and concede the matter now, by means of an amendment on Committee Stage.