Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is somewhat unfortunate as the Government amendment comes into play. That amendment will go further than the status quoand ensure that only commercial activity within a sports club is rateable. That is not the current position. A map does not delineate the licensed area but is rather used for other purposes. Under the Registration of Clubs (Ireland) Act 1904, the club would be registered in its entirety. We have a genuine technical concern that Senator Byrne's amendment, if we accepted it, would result in the status quoand it would not be workable. The amendment I will introduce later will strike the right balance between acknowledging the fact that sports clubs are playing a major part in communities and that we wanted to go further in giving them an exemption. We also want to ensure that the parts with commercial activity are rateable.
The Senator and I are aware that in our respective constituencies, as in small towns and rural villages everywhere, there may be a bar in a GAA club and one across the road that is not part of the club. It is important to have parity in such circumstances. Commercial activity will be rateable but other activities will not. Guidelines will be published by the Valuation Office in that regard. I understand very much what the Senator is seeking to do and I acknowledge the role played by Deputy Cowen and Fianna Fáil in trying to get to this point. For technical reasons, I cannot accept the Senator's amendment and I see the Government amendment as striking the right balance.