Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I will not spend time on this matter. We debated it last week and we are debating it again today. Senator Ó Murchú expressed very well his interest in and concerns about it. We are talking about amateur and recreational sports. Senator Norris pointed out very well that north of the Border, in the United Kingdom, they have found a formula that enables us to do this. We are also talking about the tax implications in this area. There is an enormous need to solve this problem so that sport can be regarded as a charity.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending in the National Concert Hall the return home of the Down's syndrome team from Portugal. This is a beautiful group of people — 15, I believe — and they came fifth in the world. They were ahead of the United States and I believe Australia won. It was great to see the joy and the benefit that sport can bring, in that case to Down's syndrome people.

I also met Katie Taylor yesterday, who won the world boxing championship in China last week, a very bright young woman from Bray. Developments such as hers come initially from amateur and recreational sport, and that is what we are hoping to achieve and succeed in. I hope the Minister of State will reconsider what we are talking about here. Baron de Coubertin, when he started the Olympic Games, said it was not the winning that mattered but the taking part. It is the taking part that we should encourage because we see the benefits of that in so many areas, and nowhere more than in the Special Olympics, which were held in Ireland in 2003. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider this amendment. The attention paid to it last week was such that there is an understanding of what is involved. There may be tax implications that can be solved through the Finance Bill, but on the basis that this is worthy of consideration, I urge the Minister of State to reconsider his stance.