Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the referral by the Minister of the inquiry to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. I refer to the DIRT inquiry chaired by the late Jim Mitchell, the Abbeylara inquiry chaired by former Deputy Seán Ardagh and the fine way in which they were handled. While Deputy McGuinness as Chair is handling this issue well, I believe Standing Orders must be changed in respect of committee members running off to the media. It would be a pity were committees to be damaged through a lack of Standing Orders and procedures. While committees, inquiries and openness all are needed, further Standing Orders also are required to ensure members of committees, through no fault of the committee Chairs, are not expressing views and perhaps prejudicing themselves - or at least their views - before findings are made. I ask that this issue be considered.

I wish to raise the issue of Croke Park and rates. As the Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 is out there somewhere and has not been passed yet, I ask the Leader to try to bring it back before the Seanad because the rates for Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium have been doubled. I note the stadiums at Twickenham, Murrayfield and Cardiff are valued at £2 million, whereas Croke Park has been valued at €8 million. Croke Park at present is being charged €1 million in rates whereas under the 2001 Act, cultural bodies are exempt from rates. I do not suggest it should be exempt but voluntary sporting organisations, such as the GAA and the FAI, do much voluntary work, including on obesity, about which Members speak constantly in this Chamber. A rate of €1 million was set at a time of falling ticket sales and increasing costs and I ask the Leader first to inquire as to the present status of the Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill. As Members are aware, the Valuation Office is independent and it carried out an independent assessment but legislative change may be required to specify how sporting organisations should be treated. Perhaps this should be in the same way as cultural organisations but a rethink definitely is required in this regard because €1 million for any voluntary body such as the GAA or the FAI really must be evaluated. As for the valuation of €8 million, I note it was reduced to €4 million, just like that. Where did that valuation come from and how was it done? Members need to know this because simply plucking figures out of the top of one's head is not right.