Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Dublin marathon will take place shortly and I draw the Leader's attention to it. It is a hugely successful event with huge numbers from throughout the country participating, many of them for the benefit of charities. Running as a sport gets nothing like the media coverage it deserves compared with field or contact sports. Will the Leader raise with the relevant Minister the need for RTE to resume live coverage of the marathon? It is a wonderful showpiece and we would love to see aerial coverage of our beautiful Georgian city as people run around it. Most major cities, such as Lisbon and Paris, televise their main city marathon live.I ask the Leader to draw that to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Ross.

In the past 24 hours I have received a substantial amount of correspondence on foot of my remarks about the long-established practice and great tradition of eminent people donating their archives and papers to the State. I would like to refer to one of the many issues raised with me. I am not talking about any particular case, regardless of how celebrated or eminent that person may be. I am talking in general. It seems that under the Finance Acts, people who give to the State items that are considered, from a treasure or heritage perspective, to be of value may be able to receive significant tax write-offs.