David Norris (Independent)

Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks and the wonderful Mick McManus, who was a savage in the ring but who collected Ming porcelain. He could be very delicate in his aesthetic appreciation. The interesting thing about wrestling then was that it was fun, theatre and sport. Then it moved to the World Wrestling Federation and it became utterly unscrupulous. The values were different and it was a matter of winning at all costs by cheating, smashing and using outlawed weaponry, the very values that led the United States, tragically, into the Gulf War.

Whatever about the Battle of Waterloo being won on the playing fields of Eton, I believe a moral is to be learned from sport. We certainly learned one during the Special Olympics World Games. When one participant fell, that person's colleagues, instead of saying, "Great, this is my opportunity, I will really rub their nose in it.", actually went back to help the fallen participant and all crossed the line together. Everyone felt this was heartening. I therefore agree with Senator Ó Murchú on the amateur element in sport.

I do not agree, however, that the proposed provision will facilitate just, or even principally, the large organisations such as the IRFU and the GAA. These organisations already receive enormous sums of money and seem to be able to tap into any fund. One need only consider the dispersal of lottery funding. The IRFU and the GAA receive enormous and disproportionate sums of lottery funding. The bodies being excluded from benefit by the legislation are the very amateur bodies about which Senator Ó Murchú is so passionate. They are the ones that will suffer because one can only obtain tax relief on money spent on capital projects. One cannot claim tax back for hiring boxing instructors or coaches of various kinds. These are very necessary, particularly for the amateur groups.

On the business of copperfastening, to which Senator Ó Murchú referred, the Minister of State made the point that the legislation is really a tidying up exercise and that it is intended to confirm the status quo. Confirming the status quo is not terribly adventurous government. If it was a question of copperfastening and tidying up, a better job could have been done.