The next item is the Tailteann Games, and the Estimate is £10,000. It was anticipated that this money would be restored by the Treasury by reason of the great success which it was anticipated would attend these games. Unfortunately I think the tempter got the better of us in the matter, and we must postpone any prospect of getting back this £10,000 for twelve months. It was put to the Government in the early days of its administration that the money would be usefully spent in improving Croke Park with a view to having it in sufficiently good order to permit of the holding of these games on a great National basis. Unfortunately it was impossible to hold them.
ESTIMATES. - TAILTEANN GAMES.
Is Croke Park private property, or is it a National possession? If it belongs to the State all expenditure on it is, of course, justifiable, but it becomes a serious consideration if Croke Park is private property.
It is private to the extent that it is not the property of the Government. It is public property to the extent that it is not the property of any private individual. The organisation of the Gaelic Athletic Association owns it. It does not go from father to son, but rather from each new supply of the youth of the country who join up and play the games of the country. In that sense it is public property.
I take it this Vote was not brought in as a matter concerning those who own Croke Park, but that it was brought in as a National matter. Therefore the Nation comes in.
Would it not be desirable to acquire this instead of merely having an organisation which is a quasi-perpetual company owning it? If you put one of the sub-departments of the Ministry in charge of the promotion of National Games in continuance of these things which are in Ireland the counterpart of Olympic Games in other countries we might vote annual sums and make the thing really a National institution.
This is not quite in order. It is more a question of the formation of a Ministry of Sport.
The late Dáil put up a Vote of nine or ten thousand pounds for the Tailteann Games. I think it was done before this time last year, and when there was every prospect that they would be a success. They spent that much and there was no more money voted. When it was put to us that they would not be a success unless this money was expended on Croke Park we decided to advance the money until the Games would be held, and we would get back the money then.
This money has been expended?
Yes.
It has. When the old Dáil decided on the introduction of the Tailteann Games, the provision of a proper stadium was found necessary. Some of you who follow sport will remember that the United States were sending across a very strong team of athletes—something like 120—and one of the imperative conditions from the outset was that a properly equipped stadium should be provided here by somebody. The G.A.A., as all of you know, suffered very severely during the last three or four years. Its resources have been heavily taxed through matters over which it had no control, and mainly through the fact that its members had been the principal contributors in the fight against England. I think you will all agree with that. Were it not for these facts I think the ordinary resources of the Association would have met this contingency, but it would not have been fair to pledge the future resources of the Association for a great programme of this kind, which had only a part bearing on the G.A.A. I do not know that I can quite agree with the President that this sum will have to be paid back by the Association. I am afraid we will have a quarrel over this in the future.
I think you will.
It is described as a grant-in-aid.
It is. We can agree to differ upon the point; but if it has cost the nation £10,000, I hope you gentlemen who patronise Croke Park will help to pull it up.
If I were in order I would move to increase the Vote by £4,500. The grant is £10,000 to build a stand, and it cost us £14,500 to build it. I hope the Minister for Finance will take that into consideration. It was to carry out the Tailteann Games by order of the old Dáil, and you come along, as if the G.A.A. were pocketing £10,000, where actually it is at a loss of £4,500.
I do not suggest the creation of a Ministry of Sport, but I do certainly think that this is part of our organisation of publicity as well as part of our educational system, and part also of our policy with regard to the national life. Consequently, when it is described as a grant in aid it should be a grant, and treated as a grant and not on the principle of a loan to be repaid at a future time. If the thing were put on a proper basis I should be certainly in favour of annual grants for this purpose. It would be an enormous benefit, and there is no doubt Ireland would benefit from the great publicity given and from being the centre of those notable competitions from period to period.
I thought the Deputy was urging—and I do not say it facetiously—a Ministry of Sport. There is such a thing as a Ministry of Sport in other countries. I think this Vote is agreed to.
Motion made and question put:
"That the Dáil in Committee, having considered the Estimates for Tailteann Games (Grant in Aid) in 1922-23, and having passed a Vote on Account of £10,000 for the period to the 6th December, recommend that the full Estimate of £10,000 for the Financial Year 1922-23 be adopted in due course by the Oireachtas."
Agreed.