Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Reilly for her amendments, which I cannot accept. The proposed amendments are very broad and would potentially exempt a very large number of organisations and would probably exempt many entities that it does not intend to exempt. While I understand what the Senator is trying to achieve by the amendments, they raise a number of serious questions. What sporting entities would be exempt? Let me give an example. Does it mean or could it have the unintended consequence that Croke Park and the Aviva stadium would be exempt except for their bar areas? These stadia are used as conference centres also and are in competition with other venues that would not be exempt. What about high end golf clubs? These are also sporting entities. There is the issue of commercial gyms. Exempting any not-for-profit club venue could have significant implications that I do not feel have been thoroughly considered in these amendments. As Members will be aware, the Government has proposed an amendment to this area which I believe is a balanced extension of the current exemption available to sport clubs and which we will deal with later in the debate. I regret that I cannot accept the amendments.