Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I rise to support what Senators Buttimer and Hannigan have already said. I do not intend to repeat their points but instead to note that I was in this House when the Broadcasting Bill was debated and I remember clearly that much was made by the Government of the fact that there would be measures to prevent the advertising of junk food at certain times. There was a very obvious reason for the Government's seeking to highlight that issue. It showed a degree of practicality. We in this country are rightly concerned about the health of our citizens, particularly our younger people. I cannot understand, therefore, why we are proposing to specifically exclude sporting bodies from being able to enjoy charitable status. At the very least one would hope we could include, as per amendment No. 10, the advancement of sport in the definition of "charitable purpose". At the very least, we should remove the exclusion of sporting bodies. It is important to note that this is not specifically or exclusively about tax. A certain amount of these matters can be dealt with in the tax legislation. A relatively small number of sporting bodies are engaged in capital projects and therefore able to enjoy charitable status in respect of donations for such projects. Many sporting bodies great and small undertake another kind of activity. It could be small things like being able to avail of computers for schools. These may not sound like big undertakings when they are being discussed in this Chamber but in practice they make a big difference. The proposed legislation will deny sporting organisations the legitimacy that would derive from an improved regulatory regime and this is folly. Statistics show that people who practise sports are said to be 14 years younger in health terms. I wish I qualified for that kind of designation.

We need to treat this issue seriously and we need to be serious about sport. We often complain that we do not do as well as we would like to in major sporting events such as the Olympic Games and we rightly celebrate the achievements of people like Pádraig Harrington but it is at the basic, practical level that we really show our attitude towards sport and towards the health of our nation's citizens. We constantly communicate platitudes about how great our sports people are and how much they contribute to social capital but where is the beef? The beef has to be here in this Bill.

I am co-sponsor of one of the amendments dealing with the exclusion of sport because that needs to change at the very least. As per the other recommendation, we should specifically name sporting bodies as coming within the scope of the legislation, as qualifying for charitable status.

I am broadly in support of people's concerns about human rights although we might need to qualify that a little. I refer to organisations purporting to promote human rights but which would not promote a vision of human rights consistent with the Constitution. We need to be clear on that point but otherwise I would have no problem with it. I make that point to emphasise that there can be no doubt about sport because sport unites everybody, not just in terms of our ability to celebrate but in terms of our health. I ask the Minister of State to take a generous view in that context. I do not know whether the Minister of State has commented on amendment No. 41 as I was not in the Chamber so I will hold my fire on that one for the moment.