Deputy Ryan is in possession. He has nine minutes left of the time available to him.
Private Members' Business. - Irish Olympic Team Funding: Motion (Resumed).
The following motion was moved by Deputy Deenihan on Tuesday, 23 June 1992:
That Dáil Éireann condemns the lack of Government support for the Irish Olympic team and urges the Government to grant additional funds to assist the athletes in their final preparations for Barcelona and to commit themselves to providing moneys for the 1992-1996 Olympic cycle of the order requested in the submission made to the Government by the Irish Olympic Council in 1989.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:
Dáil Éireann welcomes the level of funding provided by the Government to the Olympic Council of Ireland during the current Olympic cycle and notes the assistance, both financial and through the provision of facilities, being made available to assist Ireland's outstanding sportspersons."
—(Deputy Aylward.)
With your permission, Sir, and the permission of the House, I would like to share my time with Deputy Foxe.
Is that satisfactory? Agreed.
Having listened to the Minister last night and read his statement, I must say there is not much joy in this for the Olympic Council of Ireland and affiliated organisations and particularly the young people involved in sport. I hope the Minister will look more favourably on this.
In a wider sense, I am gravely concerned that the original philosophy and spirit of the Olympic movement, going back to its establishment in 1894, are changing. It would appear that we are now being directed by the International Olympic Council that only potential finalists should be selected by participating countries. This is not good. It would put additional pressure on our athletes. In this context is it any wonder that question marks hang over a number of Olympic champions in recent years because of allegations of drug taking? Until random drug testing is mandatory all year round throughout the world we will never remove this blemish from the Olympic Games. I compliment the Olympic Council of Ireland on their actions and attitude in this matter and I urge them to use whatever power they have, and their votes with the International Olympic Council, to further this end. This country and everyone involved in sport should intensify the drive to clear all sports throughout the world of the drug menace. It is unacceptable to sportsmen and sportswomen throughout the world that athletes convicted of drug taking should be readmitted to their sports within, in many cases, two years. The Olympic council should give a positive lead with the major countries of the world in tackling this menace of drug taking and should row in behind the International Olympic Committee to ensure that drug taking is eliminated from the Olympic Games. Our competitors face a grave disadvantage in many ways at the moment. It is totally unacceptable that in addition they could be competing against people who are using drugs.
There is a great demand throughout this country and an increasing realisation of the need for and the potential of, sport. While I acknowledge that the Minister present has not got his hands on the purse strings, I hope he will use his influence with the Minister for Finance to ensure there is a much greater financial commitment to sport.
I would like to thank my Labour colleague, Deputy Ryan, for giving me some of his time to say a few words about the Olympic Council of Ireland on the motion moved by Deputy Deenihan.
An Olympic Games is a showpiece for world sport, a place where the cream of sportsmen and sportswomen show their paces. The title "world champion" though much sought after still has not the same aura as the title of Olympic champion. In the past Ireland has a very noble and good record of producing Olympic champions ever since the Olympic Games began in the eighteen nineties. We had many Olympic champions in those early days. Unfortuately, in latter years they are not quite as many. We had the raw material then; we still have the raw material, but it takes a little more now to become an Olympic champion. It takes extra special skills which are developed by training and coaching. Unfortunately, at that level quite an amount of money is required and here we are slipping up slightly, but maybe many other countries slip up to a far greater degree.
Our first Olympic champion in modern history came from Deputy Deenihan's county of Kerry in tennis, a sport rather unusual for Irishmen in those years. In the early years of this century at almost every Olympic Games we took two or maybe three gold medals, especially in long jump, hammer throwing and discus throwing. Since the foundation of our State we took home 13 Olympic medals. Somebody said here last night we brought home 14. Perhaps we did. Of those 13 or 14 medals seven have been won by boxers. That speaks well for our boxers and our boxing fraternity, and this year we have a team of six going to the Olympic Games. At the moment they are in Germany training with other nations and with the six is one other boxer who was most unfortunate in not being chosen. He may yet be chosen — that is Mark Winters of Belfast who is Irish light-weight senior champion at 60 kilos. In the past, different countries picked their boxers. This year it is not the country that picks its team but the Continent, and we see a European team, an American team, an African team, an Oceana team and so on. On the European team there are 12 boxers in each weight and there are 12 weights in amateur boxing, and we have six of those.
As flyweight we have a Corkman, Paul Buttimer, who was trained by a former Olympian, Kieran Joyce, who boxed for Ireland in 1984 and 1988.
As bantamweight we have Wayne McCullagh, a British Commonwealth gold medallist.
As featherweight we have Dublin man Paul Griffin, current European gold medallist.
As welterweight we have Michael Carruth, again of Dublin, who was world junior silver medallist. Both he and Paul Griffin are trained by Mr. Carruth's father, Austin Carruth who also will be one of the coaches in the Olympics. As heavyweight we have Paul Douglas of Belfast trained by Gerry Storey, a famous international boxing trainer. Incidentally, when Barry McGuigan turned professional he spent the first six months with Storey learning how to throw a left hook properly, and we all remember how effectively he got the message. At superheavyweight — the first time we ever had a superheavyweight — we have Kevin McBride from the home county of the Minister for Defence Deputy Wilson. From those six boxers I expect we will bring home at least three medals.
I am sorry to interrupt the Deputy merely to advise him his time is well nigh exhausted.
I do not expect all those medals will be bronze.
Reference was made last night to various Ministers with special responsibility for Sport. I do not think I can let this occasion pass without referring to the Minister who gave rise to the new word Cospóir. In the past we took that word to be a verb but it has come to have a different meaning over the past ten or 12 years. Cospóir, the National Sports Council, were set up by the then Minister with special responsibility for Sport, Deputy Tunney.
It was stated by a member of the Olympic Council of Ireland that he would not like to see a Government representative among the people who welcome home our athletes. That was a scandalous comment. This attitude is not shared by all members of the Olympic Council of Ireland. I know some of those people personally and they have completely disassociated themselves from that remark.
The time has come to call another speaker.
I wish the Irish Olympic team the very best in the forthcoming games in Barcelona. Hopefully, more funding will be allocated to the 1996 Irish Olympic team.
With the permission of the House, I wish to share my time with Deputy Tunney.
Is that satisfactory? Agreed.
I should like to let the House know that I have had a love relationship with the Olympic games for a long time. I visited Olympia in the Peloponnese in Greece, the beautiful fertile valley where it all began, where the records go back to 776 BC where in the 200×90 feet Temple of Zeus — the feet were Hercules feet, so that they were bigger than normal — the gold and ivory statue of the God Zeus by Phidias stood and where the statue of Hermes by Praxiteles, also from the 4th century, with the child Dionysos was found as late as 1877. That is the model for all Christian statues where there is a bambino on the arm of an individual.
In Olympia there ware statues of athletes, horse breeders — chariot racing was very important at that time — philosophers, statesmen and kings. Like Deputy Foxe, I too would resent the exclusion of Members of this House from any celebration of a victory at the Olympic Games. What Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great were entitled to, Members of this House are also entitled to. It is interesting that Caligua, the Roman Emperor, wanted to steal the gold and ivory chryselepantine statue of the god, take it to Rome and replace its head with a sculpture of his own head. He was frustrated. This shows the danger of making a god out of oneself in matters Olympic. I had the pleasure of visiting and talking with President Karamanlis when I was Minister for Education many years ago. He is President of Greece again and he told me he hoped that Greece would again become the permanent home of the Olympic Games. I do not know whether the climate would suit us all that well, but that is his ambition and he has a good basis for it.
It is important to point out to the House that a sacred truce was proclaimed for the duration of the ancient games. This shows how sophisticated they were. The games stopped wars in ancient Greece; but during the 20th century wars stopped the games, both the 1914-18 and the 1939-45 world wars. As we know, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and Turkey were banned from the 1920 games immediately after the First World War. This happened after the Baron De Coubertin had revived the games during the last decade of the last century. It is interesting to note that Germany and Japan were banned from the 1948 London Olympic Games and that the USSR, as it was then known, did not come into the Olympics until the 1952 games in Helsinki.
With regard to the specific reason I am here, I want to put on the record why I made a certain phone call. I did not make this phone call to bully or force the Olympic Council of Ireland to do any particular thing. I made the phone call as a result of representations made to me. The following facts will give substance to the steps I took. Gina Galligan attained a time of one minute, 11.8 seconds in the 100 metres breast stroke, a third of a second outside the time. The House should know that this time would have won her the gold medal in the Olympic Games in Mexico City — it was easier to make records there because of the altitude — the gold medal in the ill-fated Munich games in 1972 and the silver medal in Montreal in 1976. Her time would have placed her 17th in the Seoul games. The House should take careful note that Mr. Noel Carroll an Olympic athlete, has given a wise warning about the Seoul Olympics. He called it the last of the drugs Olympics and noted that since then, because of the tests, times are slower. This is highly relevant to the time registered by Gina Galligan.
Ask Carl Lewis about that.
Marion Madine from Belfast attained a time of two minutes 15.9 seconds in the 200 metres butterfly race. This time would have won her the gold medal in Mexico City and the silver medal in Munich. She would have been in the first eight in Los Angeles in 1984. No Irish swimmer has got into the last eight in a swimming competition in the Olympic Games. It is time to let these young girls kill forever the old joke "The Irish swimming team's success in the Olympics is that nobody drowned".
I wish to refer to an article by Tom O'Riordan in, I think, today's Irish Independent, in which he states:
Meanwhile, the Olympic Council again discussed swimmer, Marion Madine, for the 200m butterfly after they had received a fax from FINA, the International Swimming Association.
Mr. Ross E. Wales, Fina Secretary, informed the Council that Madine's time of 2.15.95 in a race after the European Community Club Championships in Touloise last April would satisfy all criteria, barring only those required for a world record.
That is the kind of league we are talking about. The article goes on to say:
He claimed he was satisfied, on the information supplied to him by the IASA, that Madine's time could be recognised for Olympic qualification. It is important to note that point.
This House — this is well known to the Ceann Comhairle and Members of the Oireachtas generally — is very careful when legislating to incorporate an appeals procedure into its laws. The Deputies opposite will know and realise the truth of that. This is fundamental to our democratic process. The final word is not left with an oligarchy of any kind. If we come up against the attitude "I am Sir Oracle, and when I open my lips let no dog bark" it repels us as legislators. When we hear that Ronnie Delaney was chosen for the Melbourne Olympic Games on a seven votes to six decision, that Gina Galligan had the rules changed and was ruled out on the basis of a third of a second time disqualification, that Marion Madine made the time for the 200 metres butterfly, but, God save the mark, the race was not recognised by the OCI — both these swimmers were nominated by the Irish Amateur Swimming Association — and that, as a former Olympic Games competitor stated on the Bibi Baskin programme, a man was picked by the OCI who was not nominated by anybody, then it is time to call strongly for an appeals procedure.
That is what I am doing before the House this evening. I suggest that the President of the Gaelic Athletic Association, the President of the Irish Rugby Football Union — two magnificient sporting bodies not in the Olympic Games and consequently without prejudice and without bias — and two knowledgeable foreign experts should act as an appeal board in these contentious matters. I and others who contacted me during the last couple of weeks would be anxious to support the work of the OCI in putting the best possible teams into competition. In the present circumstances I consider I am performing a public duty in following the line I followed and I shall continue to do so if the occasion demands it.
There was a great deal of talk about funding of the Olympic Council of Ireland. It is as well to remember that in the early history of the Olympic Games no State funding was allowed and there was very heavy dependence on sponsors. The first of the revived Olympics, revived by the Baron De Coubertin, were subsidised very heavily by one individual. It became a matter of political pride to win at the Olympic Games and consequently the command economies, notably East Germany and the USSR — from where some magnificent athletes came — almost abolished the status of amateurism and the word "shamateurism" was coined. The whole Olympic movement will have to carefully consider where we are going in that regard in the future. It is very difficult now to know who is a real amateur. In a sense this is a social question, because only the well to do in the 19th century could afford to take part in sports of various kinds and consequently the amateur status was exalted. Anybody who made a living from the sport, such as professional cricketers on our neighbouring island, professional boxers and professional footballers, were excluded from the amateur ranks. Things are in such a state at the moment that it is difficult to identify the true amateur.
I listened with care to the Minister of State last night and I compliment him on his speech. In particular, I compliment him on his outlining of the expenditure of his Department on sports. Ex parte pleading had minimised the amounts. He came out openly and indicated in relation to a wide range of sports what his Department are doing. His statement on the 50 metre pool must give hope to all of us who aim at excellence. I give him total support in this regard. Gura fada buan é san oifig. Táim cinnte go ndéanfaidh sé beart de réir a bhriathair.
When thinking about this motion put down by a defender of yore on the Kerry team I thought of the history of the Olympic Games since they were revived by the Baron de Coubertin. I found some very interesting facts in the record books, many of them a disaster. One of the funniest was when Chicago was picked to hold the Olympics in 1904 and Teddy Roosevelt of the United States had them transferred to St. Louis, Missouri, but St. Louis was not able to organise the event properly.
The Tánaiste was trying to do the same.
We will allow the Deputy to talk about the Tailteann Games which take place in his county. In 1908 there was a big row between the Russians and the Finns because the Finns wanted to put up their flag, and between the English and the Irish because the Irish wanted to put up their flag; but they were constrained from doing so. As I have mentioned already, in 1920 the Olympic Games excluded the defeated of World War I, not in the spirit of the Olympics. In 1928 in Amsterdam the strong man of Munster, Dr. Pat O'Callaghan, won a gold medal for Ireland, as he did in 1932 in Los Angeles. He was joined there by the brilliant Tipperary athlete, Bob Tisdall, who won a gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles.
All this came to mind, particularly the political aspect. Two men in Mexico City were expelled from the Olympic village for raising their hands in black power salute. However, the Nazi salute was freely attended to in 1936 in Berlin. Therefore there is a certain lack of logic in some of the activities of the IOC. South Africa was expelled from the Olympic Games but is now allowed to take part again. There were the brilliant games in Tokyo and the altitude games in Mexico City, where the black power salute was given. There was the tragedy of Munich, which was heavily politicised when the athletes from Israel were slaughtered at the Olympic Games there. There was the financial disaster of Montreal; the Moscow games were boycotted because of Afghanistan and in 1984 Los Angeles was boycotted by the Russians because the USA had boycotted Moscow. There was a variety of political aspects involved.
The Tánaiste should talk about funding.
State aid was frowned upon at that time. As I have said, it was introduced mainly to improve national prestige in the controlled economies. I am proud of the commitment of the Minister of State as outlined in his speech last night and I am proud of his commitment for funding. I am glad that he, a doughty hurler in his time, is in charge of this section of the Department. I am quite sure that the funding of the Olympics and the broader spectrum of sport in this country, which is also important, are in safe hands.
As I read through the records various thoughts entered my mind. I thought of John McGough, down as GBR-IRL, who won a silver medal in the intercalated games of 1906. He was masseur for the Cavan team in the late forties. That team was equally successful in that we took the gold medals from various counties at that time.
Are they looking for a replacement?
Meath has not passed us out yet. I remembered Bob Tisdall and Pat O'Callaghan, who, as I mentioned already, won two gold medals in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, and also the inspiration of Ronnie Delaney in Melbourne. Deputy Foxe paid tribute a moment ago to the boxers, a tribute that was no more than their due. Let us not let these people down.
The House will understand——
A Deputy
What about the phone call?
I have justified that phone call and I will again.
——if I in my wisdom would not attempt to match the eloquence or the classical and academic presentation of the origins, nature, character and operations of what we call the Olympic Games today.
He was trying to put everyone offside.
I will come to Deputy Farrelly in a moment, if he will just be patient. I am sure that the founders or anybody who has any genuine interest in sport, leisure or recreation would not associate the razzamatazz, the vulgar exploitation of sport, the politics and the economic considerations which surround the Olympic Games at the moment, with what is presumed to be their raison d'etre. For me, the real Olympians are in my constituency and they are in Navan, in Claremont Stadium, the people who, day in and day out, devote their time and their own resources to young boys and girls in their areas so that they can attain to the real purpose of the whole exercise, the healthy mind and body and attain standards by correct methods. For one reason or another, however, the Olympics are taken as the summit of excellence and all nations aspire to winning a gold medal. We recall with great satisfaction the names of O'Callaghan and Tisdall and more recently, from 1956, Ronnie Delaney.
I thank Deputy Foxe for putting on the record that I gave to the new Sports Council the title "Cuspóir" a very appropriate word. I was happy to invite Ronnie Delaney to act as chairman of that body. If I had my way that body would have supplanted the Olympic Council. I picked that team and the only politician I put on it was Councillor Joe Connolly, a member of the Labour Party, who happened to be secretary of a great organisation, the Community Games. The only other members of that board were appointed on the basis that they had something to offer to the sports council.
The Olympic Council of my time, which included Lord Killanin and Des Sullivan were anxious to pursue by legitimate means the genuineness of their case but they did not indulge in this lobbying, in this going public and using the press in order to embarrass a Government or politicians into doing something incorrect.
I will respond now to the invitation from Deputy Farrelly to comment on the phone call. Has Deputy Farrelly, in his capacity as a TD for his constituency, made representations to hospitals on behalf of constituents? Has he ever made representations——
Since the waiting list got longer, yes.
——to universities where it was represented to him that the authorities had not operated in accordance with the norm? I understand that the great sportsman sitting beside Deputy Farrelly, Deputy Deenihan, correctly expressed his disappointment in the House that a constituent of his had not been awarded a sports scholarship. I commend the Deputy for that. The Deputy argued his case and that is what we should be doing. If the Olympic Council are not prepared to listen to submissions made by anybody, not excluding politicians who represent thousands of people, they must feel that they are in a rather insecure position. The Olympic Council are working under the fallacy that having been established they are entitled to operate to their own satisfaction. That often is the mistake made by members of institutions who appoint themselves and who reject any comment or criticism from anybody outside. This organisation is not entitled to such protective cover.
Deputy Deenihan, in his motion, asks this House to give £7 million to a group of people. That amount of money would do a lot for Claremont Stadium and for genuine sport in my constituency or in Deputy Foxe's constituency——
If it was going that way.
We have spent £10 million on the beef tribunal already, and for what?
Will Deputies desist from more interruptions?
Deputy Deenihan invites this House to vote to give an undisclosed sum, which I understand is £7 million, to a group of people who he believes should not take an inquiry from the deputy Taoiseach of this country. Is the Deputy serious? Is Deputy Deenihan really in his right mind? Is the Deputy familiar with the submission made in respect of this £7 million?
Very much so.
Has it been itemised for the Deputy?
Where has all the money gone?
If it has, I would like the Deputy to make it available——
(Interruptions.)
Deputy Farrelly will have his chance. This is a very limited debate.
I am talking about the terms of the motion before us. Apart from the fact that there must be responsibility for every penny spent, I greatly resent it when a spokesman on behalf of the Olympic Council would say to every Member of this House that they are not entitled to attend at any sports meeting on any occasion when there is a victory for an Irish man, women or child. That is the essence of the Deputy's motion.
He is a Member of your own party.
If he was a member of the Blue Shirts, it would not make any difference to me. Membership of parties means nothing to me. I am concerned about sport and about people who in some other guise are acting in a fashion which is prejudicial to the interests espoused by Deputies Kenny, Deenihan and my good Tipperary friend who may not be in the best of form, having regard to sport. Beidh lá eile ag muintir Chorcaí.
They are looking for a new trainer. Can the Deputy get the Tánaiste to make a phone call?
Deputy Farrelly——
Is a smart-alec.
——in his heart realises that the case he is trying to make is without justification. Is the Deputy seriously suggesting that we should make £7 million available to an organisation the manager of which says that neither of us, in the exercise of our duties, responsibilities or rights is entitled to attend at any sports? I attend sports at which nobody was present except the people who were taking part and I enjoyed them and I will continue to do so. I was motivated by the true Olympian spirit. The real thrill is to participate. Naurally we would all like to win but participation is important. Bearing in mind the lack of performance of the Olympic Council who at the moment are getting £700,000 out of our resources in respect of this Olympics, I am amazed at this motion. They indicated somewhere that £900,000 would be adequate but I know they can obtain money from other sources, such as sponsorship and people who are ready to support them. Nevertheless, Deputy Deenihan is asking us in this House to guarantee £7 million of the taxpayers' money to that organisation. If we were to judge them by the one person we know, we would give them very little. They are an unknown group and they do not submit details of how they spend their money. If Deputy Deenihan regards that as being in the best interest of sport and in the best interests of the people we serve at all levels, I invite him to have second thoughts.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I wish to share my time with Deputies Kenny and Gilmore.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this motion on a night when we have a classic exposé of the Olympic movement. I must say that my enjoyment of the Minister's contribution was tempered by my sympathy for the reporters who had to record it here tonight.
It would be as difficult if they had to read my writing.
This motion, if passed, will serve as a generous measure of goodwill towards the Olympic movement in Ireland and, more importantly, in practical terms it should serve as a stimulus to the Government to react in a positive manner by providing badly needed funds for our sports representatives in Spain this summer.
It is an unfortunate fact that in a country where practically every facet of life evolves around sport, the Government philosophy places sport very far down the list of priorities. In terms of achievements on the national and international scenes, it is doubtful if there is any country in the world which could match Ireland for sporting prowess, particularly in the context of our isolation as an island country with a small population. There is rarely a year or an era when there is not some Irish person to the forefront of world sports, many of them have gone on to become household names all over the globe. Individual competitors have reached the summit of their chosen disciplines in spite of the many obstacles which confront such athletes in this country.
Team sports are reasonably well served as regards public support and the consequent financial boost which such sport engenders. One need look no further than at the GAA or the Irish Rugby Football Union to see what can be achieved by good organisation and presentation of particular team sports in terms of attracting spectators and providing facilities for the playing and development of our games. These organisations can, in different ways, serve as role models as to how particular sports can become an integral part of the social and recreational fabric of the community. They have demonstrated that sport can and should be something more than a mere pastime, that it as a part to play in the evolution and development of character in its participants and that it can enhance their quality of life. The essential point I would like to make about these organisations and others like them is that their progress has been achieved, not at the expense of the community in general through the payment of grants and subsidies, but through the activities of the organisations themselves. The success in recent years of the Irish international soccer team has generated enormous public interest and with it the resultant financial benefits which have given the Football Association of Ireland the means by which they can safeguard the future welfare of the game at all levels around the country. These are obvious examples to quote when talking about sports which are self-supporting. They have a long standing place in Irish public life, they generate widespread spectator interest and as a consequence they also benefit from the communications media.
The crux of the matter, unfortunately, is that these are not Olympic sports and the widespread public support enjoyed by our major team sports is of little consequence to those individual disciplines which enjoy Olympic status but which all too often have to pay a massive price when it comes to competing at the highest level of all. The Government need to take a hard look at their priorities and make some long overdue adjustments to their agenda in this area. There are far too many sports in this country which do not enjoy a wide degree of spectator appeal and thus lack the resultant financial support which is necessary for survival and development. The generation of finance through the staging of the sport itself should not be a criterion by which sport is to be judged worthy of Government backing. For example, amateur boxing is probably Ireland's most successful Olympic sport next to athletics and yet that does not command wide spectator appeal. If boxing is to continue to thrive in Ireland, it can only do so through regular competition with other countries and the authorities in this sport must have the necessary financial backing to enable them to do so.
Ireland has conquered the world in professional cycling through the marvellous achievements of Seán Kelly, Stephen Roche, Martin Early and others, yet their amateur counterparts at home have to depend almost entirely on their own resources and on the assistance of commercial sponsorship to survive and remain in competition with other countries. Surely this is not right.
Swimming is another sport which urgently needs Government support. In this sport we have come knocking on the door of international success principally through the magnificent and untiring efforts of a few dedicated individuals and a committed governing body which is striving against the odds to promote the sport at national and international level. That we have come so far in this particular sport is a credit to the personnel involved. That we have done so considering the appalling lack of facilities and without the use of an Olympic standard 50 metre pool is a matter of international incredulity. Given the talent that is available and waiting to be exploited to the full, Ireland must stand indicted on this issue.
To compound the problem we heard recent allegations of ministerial interference in the question of personnel selection for the Olympics in this sport. I respectfully suggest that the Cabinet member involved should instead concern himself with the difficulties facing the sports administrators through the lack of funding. In our climate swimming must be an indoor sport and this entails all the consequent expense. Yet, because of its very nature, it cannot become a spectator sport to the extent that it could become self-financing. It must be clearly evident, therefore, that the excellent work being done by swimming associations all over the country in the municipal facilities available to them must be supplemented by a Government approach at national level. The sport demands an Olympic size pool and our swimmers deserve that.
There is another aspect of this question which must be a cause of concern and this impinges on the question of Government commitment to sport and its place on the national agenda. There can be no doubt that significant changes have taken place in our educational system in recent years. For generations we have been very lucky because of the profound influence which the religious teaching orders have had in our primary and secondary schools. The influence of the religious extended beyond the academic and embraced also the sporting and cultural life of their students. Second level boarding schools contributed enormously to the welfare of a number of different sporting disciplines, particularly team sports. However, over the past decade, with the diminution of the numbers in the religious orders, there has been a parallel decrease in the numbers going to boarding school. This laicisation of the educational system will inevitably bring further change in the future. The dedication of the lay teaching staff will ensure the maintenance of academic and vocational standards, of that I am confident, but lay staff have a life outside the classroom which is totally different from their religious counterparts and which demands that much of their social and recreational energies are directed towards areas away from the school. This will inevitably place a greater onus on the individual to pursue his or her own sporting destiny and on local sports clubs and organisations to seek out and nurture talent in their own area. This is a question that should engage the Minister's attention as it will undoubtedly have a major bearing on the direction in which many sports will go in the future. Our educational system must continue to foster the idea and the philosophy that sport and recreation form an integral part of the development of the whole student.
The high level of unemployment in Ireland may not seem to have much relevance in the context of our submission for funding of our Olympic athletes, but it has, and may have a profound influence in the future. There is a strong and credible body of opinion which says that it will be many years before there is a significant decrease in the number of people out of work. In other words, we must be realistic about it and realise that we have to face up to the fact that large numbers of people in all our communities will spend long periods out of work. The manner in which they spend their time must be of concern to the Government. Even a cursory walk around any town or city will show that the video rental business has mushroomed in recent years. The obvious inference to be drawn from this is that we are becoming a nation of movie watchers, not just during the traditional hours of late evening and night time but in the mornings and afternoons. This pastime can very quickly become endemic and rooted in the second generation, namely the children of the unemployed.
We have huge numbers of long term unemployed. We can and we must direct some of our attention towards offering creative outlets for the energies and the talents of people who have no other way of passing the time. Paying them to sit around the house may ease our social conscience but it does nothing for our moral failure and certainly it does nothing for the character of the generations who will come after us.
There are a great many committed and dedicated people running voluntary sporting organisations who have a vast body of firsthand knowledge and a great deal of experience in the fostering and administration of sporting values among their members and supporters. We have people who have proven their ability to be the best and to take on the best, not just here at home but across the sporting world. There are people out there whose vision is unclouded by petty boundaries or by parochial snipings and who can see the broad picture of the place and the part that sport can play in regenerating national morale.
We should leave the athletics to the athletes, the sports to the sportsmen, and get together with the administrators to see how best we can serve the needs of the people. It is time for us as a collective body to stop sidestepping the issue, to take off our political caps and recognise the implications of this whole area for the future wellbeing of our country.
We must face up to the real questions involved here. I am not talking about the simple expedient of a one-off payment to a sporting organisation in this Olympic year. There will be other years and other Olympics; and if kneejerk reaction is the best we can come up with, then we need to examine our conscience. We must look at sport in the context of a country with a massive and abiding long term unemployment problem. We must cater for the second generation longterm unemployed who will soon form a significant segment of our dole queues. We must, above all, be supportive of the people who have the expertise in their chosen fields. We must radically alter the direction which the disbursement of national lottery funds has taken and get back to the basics for which it was set up in the first place.
This motion calls for support from the Government for the Irish Olympic team and it urges the preparation of a plan which can be overseen in terms of the preparation of athletes for the next Olympics in 1996. Anybody who has seen the film Chariots of Fire and who has any interest in sport could not but be moved by the extent of passion and principle which was exemplified in that film, with its story of Olympic competition.
I am glad that the Tánaiste has replied to allegations made in this House and outside regarding contacts relating to a potential participant in the forthcoming Olympic Games. The Tánaiste achieved the highest accolade in his particular sport and exemplified on the field all that was and should be best in that sport. When I read the report in the newspapers I was absolutely astounded that a sportsman of yesteryear, who reached the highest level in Gaelic sport, should do such a thing. I did not believe it. I will have to read the Official Report to see exactly what the Tánaiste said. He went on to refer to Baron De Coubertin and many other matters.
The Olympic Games, with the motto In Citius, Altius, Fortius, encompass the greatest emotional moments in the lives of young athletes and of generations of their followers. Who can forget the great Ron Clarke from Austriala, holder of almost 20 world records, who failed in his attempt in Mexico; or the lean figure of Bikila, the first double marathon winner in 1960 and 1964; or the black-clad Peter Snell from New Zealand, who achieved a unique double in the 800 metres and the 1500 metres? As a young child I remember passing through Bohola and hearing stories of the great Martin Sheridan.
I saw his monument last Sunday.
The vaulting pole he used in the Olympic Games is in the local public house and is a source of immense attraction to young people.
Politics have always been intimately intertwined with sport since the first runner arrived into Athens. The death recently of Arthur Ashe epitomised that. Having reached the highest level at Wimbledon, he had to fight the apartheid system in South Africa.
Deputy Deenihan is not calling for a grant that cannot be supervised and overseen. In calling for the establishment of a National Sports Council, he is seeking to monitor the expenditure of money. when one looks at the face of somebody like Rosaleen Gallagher from Bangor Erris, who won several gold medals at the paraplegic Olympics, and sees the exultation and sincerity of such people, there is no question but that this country should do more for people like this.
Obviously 50-metre swimming pools are a necessity for specialists. I remember competing a number of years ago in the Superstars competition. Another great athlete, a Member of this House for 24 years, John Donnellan from Galway, attempted to swim a 30-metre pool without being able to swim at all, such was his integrity and diligence.
Deputy Lowry has referred to the movie-watching society which is springing up. It is very obvious that the decrease in the number of male teachers in primary schools is leading to a sort of matriarchal society at primary school level. Time will tell whether this will have an effect in terms of the competitiveness or ability of young people to involve themselves in sports which would lead to Olympic competition in later years. I say that without any reference to the ability of teachers to teach. There is a vast number of female teachers in primary schools and it may affect the numbers moving into sport at second level. I mean no offence to anybody. It is just an observation and only time will tell whether it is true.
I had the opportunity to sit for 12 months in the seat occupied by the Minister of State, Deputy Aylward, and I wish him well. One of the real problems faced by politicians is the growth of cynicism among the public. I am sure that the then Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, felt like a proper fool when he had to speak to Gary O'Toole, who had just won a gold medal, and tell him that we would have a 50-metre pool before the Barcelona Olympics.
If the Government of the day make a decision, it should be adhered to. There is every justification for further expenditure in this field. One could cite the increase in leisure time and Government directives to double tourist numbers as just two reasons. I agree that a National Sports Council should be established which would work with or supersede the Olympic Council of Ireland. The money required would be well spent. Over £10 million has been spent to date on the beef tribunal in Dublin Castle and no allegation has yet been proven. We understand the sum of money required could rise to £40 million, a sum which would train all the athletes of the next generation to the level at which they would wish to compete. I commend the motion to the House.
First, I should like to thank Deputy Lowry and Deputy Kenny for sharing their time with me. In the course of the discussion so far we have had a good deal of long distance talking, from the Tánaiste's references to Greece to your own references, Sir, to the real Olympians somewhere in your own constituency. We have a few of those real Olympians in my own constituency. It is inevitable that in the course of a debate such as this the issue would be widened from the question of funding for the Olympics to the wider issue of funding for sport. There is a very serious problem that will have to be addressed very soon by the Government and, in particular, by the Minister with responsibility for Sport. It has to do with the effect the national lottery is having on the administration and the running of sport at community and at club level in this country.
We all know that people who run sports clubs, who give of their time voluntarily in order to organise sport at a local level, spend a great deal of their time trying to raise funds to keep their clubs going. It is becoming increasingly difficult for clubs to do that because the disposable income which was once available and which enabled clubs to function in local communities is no longer there, largely because people have already spent it on lottery tickets and so on. The problem, as pointed out here last night, is that the funds from the national lottery are not going back into sport at that level. I attended one meeting it my own constituency last week of a very respected football club — Ballybrack Boys Football Club — who have told me as well as other Members of this House that come next September they will have to reduce the number of teams they field from 17 to five, which will cut out virtually the entire underage complement, because they have reached the end of their tether with regard to fundraising. I believe they are not alone in that problem.
The time has come for the Government to consider some kind of grant scheme of financial assistance to be funded from the national lottery to help clubs meet their current expenditure and their ongoing costs. The assistance given by the national lottery to sports at present is largely for capital projects; but some assistance, which could be channelled through the local authorities or the vocational education committees, would enable clubs to remain in existence. Certainly, they have been starved of resources and find it extremely difficult to meet their ongoing costs. People are spending on the national lottery and they do not have the £1 or £2 or whatever they would normally contribute to a draw or whatever fund raising event a sports club may engage in.
The motion before the House deals specifically with the question of the Olympics. I should say that my party, Democratic Left, supports that motion, although it does not specify the amount of money being talked about. We support it for a number of reasons: first, because sport plays such a major part in our society. Virtually everybody, whether as participant, as a spectator or as a television viewer, is involved in sport and takes an interest in it. The degree of success or otherwise at major international events such as the Olympics affects the degree to which people participate in sport. We saw, for example, the degree to which there was an upsurge in interest in cycling after the victories of Stephen Roche and Seán Kelly. We saw the increase in participation in football after the victories of the Irish football team. Here in Dublin we saw an increased interest in Gaelic games, and particularly in Gaelic football, as a result of the achievements of the Dublin football team in the seventies.
It is not merely a question of spending money on the cream of our athletes and that they are the sole beneficiaries. If our athletes do well in the Olympics that in turn stimulates and motivates people, and particularly young people, throughout society to engage in sporting activities. The problem is that success at international sporting level does not come cheap. As standards have been raised the demands on athletes have increased proportionately. The Olympic Games are in theory still an amateur event, but the standards achieved and the commitments demanded are of a professional level. Our successes in recent Olympic Games have not been too frequent. The last time we won a gold medal was in 1956. It is not that the standards or the level of commitment among Irish participants has decreased; the problem is that the level of resources allocated by other countries, including small countries, has increased and we have been left behind. If we want to repeat the successes of earlier decades and if we want to see more Ronnie Delaneys then we will simply have to allocate more resources. Additional finance on its own will not guarantee more success, but without it our athletes operate at a severe disadvantage. What success there has been in recent years has been achieved despite the resources we allocate rather than because of them. While the genuine Olympic spirit may be about participation rather than winning, what athletes and the general public want are successes and medals.
Participating, never mind success, at Olympic level demands a phenomenal level of sacrifice and commitment by those involved. It is wrong that those who give that degree of commitment to their particular sport should be put at a disadvantage with regard to their career or their earning potential or whatever. That has to be supported. It is not possible for our athletes to compete on a part-time basis. The atletes of other countries operate effectively on a fulltime professional basis. Our men and women are entitled to a level of support which will enable them to compete on an equal basis.
It is not only a question of direct financial support but also a question of facilities. How can we expect our swimmers to compete abroad when we do not even have a 50 metre swimming pool in this country. We are the only country in Europe without such a pool. It is simply ludicrous that our swimmers should have to practice in 25 metre pools or to go abroad to get access to proper facilities. We have been promised — and again last night — a 50 metre pool time and again by successive Governments, but our swimmers are still waiting.
The real scandal — if one can use that term in this case — rests not so much with the controversy surrounding the Tánaiste's telephone call or with the Olympic Council's response to it as with the fact that the young swimmers concerned do not have access in this State to a 50 metre pool. That is the real issue. There are two versions of the story about the telephone call. I certainly would not subscribe to any Government Minister telephoning any organisation and leaning on them, if that is what has happened.
It is not.
I do not disagree with the view that Members of this House should have an input, if they feel that is warranted, in a case such as this. I do not care whether the Minister is right or whether the Olympic Council is right. What I care about is that there is a young swimmer who did not meet what seems to be a fairly arbitrary time limit and who does not have within her country adequate facilities in which to practice in order to meet the times laid down. Most members of the public are much more concerned about the injustice involved. I do not think the public are concerned as to whether Gina Galligan is being prevented from going to the Olympics because of an arbitrary time limit or because of lack of resources. What the public are concerned about is that she is being prevented from participating in the Olympics. If participation was the principal question then in this particular case the young swimmer concerned should be allowed to participate at the Barcelona Olympics. That is the bottom line of what has turned out to be an unfortunate instance of the case of a young swimmer being turned into a "political football".
I should like to take this, my first opportunity to do so, to congratulate my successor, Minister of State, Deputy Aylward, on his appointment and to wish him well in his post. To date he has been doing very well in a difficult time.
All of us would wish to have much more money allocated to sport, no one more so than the present Minister. It is clear that there is a great need to develop sport in this country. One must consider the reality of the position, however, in the context of our overall finances. Sport has not done badly, really, when one notes that there has been a 40 per cent increase in funding to the Olympic Council since 1988 and there has been a 23 per cent increase in their funding since last year. The amount of increased funding to the Olympic Council has been significant and the Department and the Minister must be congratulated for that. It would be unreasonable for one to be critical when one takes into account the increases that have occurred.
For a few moments I should like to deal with the wider issue of funding for sport. The attitude of politicians in general and that of the general public towards sports funding must be examined. Such examination could only bring about a solution to the problem in the longer term. It is clear that the general public do not want politicians to spend money on sport. Fine Gael Deputies, on the opportunities they have been given, have shown that increased expenditure on sport is not a priority for them. Before giving an example, I wish to say that I fully recognise that the four young Fine Gael Deputies sitting opposite me — like Deputies on this side of the House — are themselves fully committed to increased expenditure on sport. I must point out that at the time of the 1987 general election the Fine Gael Leader, Deputy John Bruton, made a proposal to take £60 million——
He did not.
It was the Fine Gael Leader at that time, Deputy Alan Dukes. A proposal was made to take £60 million — £30 million in one year and £30 million in the following year — from lottery proceeds and to spend that money on an attempt to deal with the health crisis.
There was plenty left for sport.
That proposal would have meant that the £5.3 million that is now going into sport would be completely swept away and expenditure would have been at the level of about £1 million — back at the level of expenditure prior to the introduction of the national lottery. I am not critical of Fine Gael for that proposal, but I am concerned about——
Who brought in the national lottery?
I am trying to point to the reality in relation to sports funding in Ireland.
The Minister's party were in Government a long time. Who brought in the lottery?
During the 1987 general election campaign not one voice was raised in opposition to the proposal to take money from sport, youth affairs and other areas to give to health.
There was plenty left.
(Interruptions.)
Gabh mo leithscéal. If Deputies Farrelly and Kenny follow their sporting pursuits in the manner in which they deal with business in this House I should not be terribly impressed.
I knew that you would catch us on that one.
Please, Deputies, the rules of fair play apply to contributors in this House as they do everywhere else.
That was a proposal to completely strip the small amount of money that was going into sport. What concerns me is that during that election campaign nobody cried "Halt" to that proposal. On the only occasion that the general public were asked about their priority for sports funding in a Sunday Press poll, 70 per cent answered that hospital beds, school buildings and anything else that might be mentioned should have a higher priority for expenditure than sport. During the 1987 election campaign — as with Deputy Kenny in the west — I was playing cornerback in west Galway and trying to keep my own little game on the go.
The Minister had very little support from his colleagues.
I decided that it was not worth my while criticising the Fine Gael Party for what I, as Minister with responsibility for sport at the time, considered to be a ludicrous proposal. In Ireland we have never looked on sport as a priority for expenditure. We are not looking on sport as a priority for expenditure now because all of us — and we should be honest about this — do not rate sport as high as we rate the other important areas of expediture that the man-in-the-street considers need assistance. In this specific area the Minister and the Government have done well and should be commended on the increase given. Perhaps in the global context all of us as politicians have to examine the truth that sport must take a much higher priority.
Like beef tribunals.
I fully support the motion in the name of Deputy Deenihan. I wish to share my time with Deputy Deenihan.
Is the House agreed? Agreed.
He should be sharing it with the Deputy; he is the boss.
The Minister did not give me a chance to share his time, so I had to ask someone else. The last occasion on which the House had a discussion about the allocation of lottery funds was on 8 and 9 November 1988. I am sorry that Deputy Fahey is leaving the Chamber because I should like to refer to a few comments made on that occasion. Then a present Minister of State, in conjunction with a member of the Progressive Democrats who was in Government at the time, said that Fianna Fáil had engaged in the most despicable exercise in gombeen politics ever witnessed in this country in the way in which they handled the allocation from the national lottery. He said that the behaviour of the Government at the time was seriously jeopardising the future of the lottery itself and was leading many people to the view that Fianna Fáil thought of the lottery as merely a re-election slush fund. Today, in 1992, four years later, I would say that Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats view the lottery in the same light. Nothing has changed in the way in which funds are allocated.
I ask the Progressive Democrats whether they will support the Government tonight on the basis of the amendment standing in the name of the junior Minister of State at the Department of Education. The Official Report of 8 November 1988 shows Deputy Michael Noonan saying that we needed a Madison Square Garden in this city of which all the people of the country could be proud; we needed it bigger if that were possible. Deputy Fahey replied that we were going to have one. He went on to say that Deputy Noonan's comments demonstrated his ignorance about what was going on in Ireland, that we would have a £35 million national centre within two years. Four years later, we have no centre. A sum of £3.5 million has been spent but we have no centre for dealing with the proposals that were then put before the House.
This motion concerns the allocation of funds for the Olympic Council of Ireland. Last night the Minister said that the Seoul Olympics were funded by the Government of the time to the tune of £1.39 million. At that time there was no national lottery. The national lottery was set up with the intention that 65 per cent of the proceeds would go towards sport and the arts. It was not envisaged that the lottery would be the success that it is today. Lo and behold, we are now told that in the four years leading up to the Barcelona Olympics a sum of £2.22 million has been given to the council. That total is made up of allocations of £450,000; £505,000; £567,000 and £700,000 respectively. The total allocation is only £832,000 more than was given in the previous four years in the lead up to the Seoul Olympics. The Government have given exactly one week's income presently raised from the lottery, over and above that given in the previous period. In real terms the contribution by the Minister is a disgrace.
The Minister for Defence made a telephone call about an athlete who had not been selected. Rules had been made and everybody knew about them——
The rules had not been made.
When he did not get his way he asked who appointed the officials and he wondered if he could become involved in the method of selection to enable him to change the members of the Olympic Council so that the next time the Minister intervenes he will be able to get his way in relation to people who had made representations to him to be picked for the team. Four members of our Olympic team are at present in England receiving unemployment benefit and training to enable them to compete with the best athletes in the world. The Minister is trying to justify the fact that he has given one week's extra national lottery funds over a four-year period——
The Deputy should watch his blood pressure.
The Minister is pretending that he is looking after our athletes. I do not object to any Minister attending a photocall; the Government are excellent at doing so.
They are photogenic.
The Government Ministers should be present when members of our successful team return from competing abroad but I do not belive that a member of the Government should interfere with the running of a body. We should, as Members of this House, in conjunction with the Olympic Council of Ireland and in accordance with Deputy Deenihan's proposal, be organised properly to ensure that adequate funds are provided — an annual sum of £1.75 million — so that athletes will not have to train in other countries. The national lottery was set up to provide funds for sport and a percentage should certainly be made available.
Deputy Frank Fahey said that £30 million is being spent every year on very badly needed services. We do not know what money is being spent in any area. We are in the middle of 1992 and no application forms have been sent out in relation to any proposed national lottery or amenity grant so far. Where have all the Progressive Democrats gone?
The Deputy should have his photograph taken with the Laois team.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank all the Members who contributed to this timely debate on sport. We hear too little about sport in the House and when we get a chance to debate it we should make the most of it. Unfortunately, because of time constraints, I cannot refer to all the contributions. However, I will refer to the reply of the Minister of State last night. The core of Deputy Aylward's reply was the defence of the Tánaiste; the most charitable thing to say is that the Minister of State did this from a sense of loyalty. It is impossible for anyone to believe that he could be sincere in suggesting that it was a legitimate practice for the second most important member of the Government to telephone the Olympic selectors to tell them to put Gina Galligan — regardless of whether she deserved it — on the Olympic squad, accompanied by a veiled threat in regard to funding and taking the matter further.
Lies.
Who is telling lies?
The matter should be clarified.
The telephone call should not have been made.
The call also concerned Marian Madine, for whom I have great respect. I wish her the best of luck and I hope she will be on the swimming team which will go to Atlanta. Last year a time was set by the Irish Amateur Swimming Association for the 100 metre breast stroke——
But not accepted by the Olympic Council of Ireland.
The Minister is prepared to continue bullying.
Unfortunately, Gina Galligan did not make the qualifying time. In his contribution Deputy Aylward accused me of trying to make political capital from the decision of the Government not to proceed with the proposed national sports centre at the Custom House Docks site. Deputy Aylward should aim his accusations in another direction. If he looks at the records of his colleagues he will see that, not only were they trying to make political capital out of it, but they were also trying to make compound interest out of it.
I wish to refer to the former Taoiseach's press conference in Kilmainham in 1987. He was surrounded by many people, including the Tánaiste and the former Minister for Sport, Deputy Frank Fahey, when he announced a £40 million new indoor centre on the dock site. When he was asked by a leading sports journalist whether we would see this in our lifetime the former Taoiseach retorted, in his usual curt fashion, that he would treat that question with the contempt it deserved.
The former Minister for Education, Deputy O'Rourke, made a further announcement in 1988 and we had the famous commitment from the former Minister for Sport, Deputy Frank Fahey, in November 1989 that work would commence in two to three weeks. Am I supposed to praise the Government when they do well and not to make any reference when they have blundered, as they have done so many times in the past, in relation to sport? How can one realistically raise standards without the necessary additional funding?
Government funding — now further reduced — will not change the present position. As in the case of countries like Italy, standards improve only after sustained increased funding. The Minister referred to the House of Sport which, I understand, was donated free by Paul O'Neill subject to the Department paying for overheads such as telephones and lighting. Paul O'Neill should get the credit for the House of Sport, not the Government.
The Minister also referred to the 1992 grant of £700,000. However, this is misleading as the grant from his Department this year was £450,000, representing a decrease of £75,000 from 1991. The special £250,000 budget allocation from the Minister for Finance should have been given last year, which was the case in 1987, the pre-Olympic year. It is obvious that sport is a minor affair in the Department of Education with the various senior Ministers for Education ignoring the junior Minister for Sport.
When cuts are made in the Estimates sport generally suffers, as in 1992 when the sports grant was cut by £0.5 million. The Minister referred to the sponsorship received by the Olympic Council of Ireland and to the fact that they will not reveal the source of their sponsorship. However, I understand that the sponsorship is very small, most of it involves benefit in kind in the sense that various companies sponsor clothing, equipment and travel. Very little money is provided. Because of the limited success of our athletes in the Olympics it is difficult to attract major sponsors; if we do not provide the funding we will not get the results and then we will not have sponsors.
The Olympic Council of Ireland are a voluntary body who, in effect, do the State's work very cheaply and they are more than justified in seeking increased Government funding. Most countries have well staffed, State paid, officials on their Olympic councils. The OCI have one paid executive. The Minister also referred to the £300,000 grant made to our élite athletes. This figure covers all sports, not just Olympic sports. The grants, which range from £1,000 to £5,000, are just peanuts and do not adequately cover the full-time training of an Olympic athlete. To do this a sum of at least £30,000 would be required each year. The Minister was neither objective nor fair in implying that there was controversy in some of the affiliated sporting organisations within the Olympic Council of Ireland. As far as I know, there is total harmony within that organisation.
Indeed, in complying with the dictates of the International Olympic Committee in maintaining proper entry standards, the Olympic Council of Ireland, have applied fair criteria for selection across the board, including in the case of Gina Galligan. It is most unhelpful for the Minister to imply within the sanctuary of Dáil Éireann where the Olympic Council of Ireland have no remit that they are damaging the individual sports person. It is only fair that he should withdraw that remark.
In general, rather than entering into dialogue to clarify a coherent sports policy and to make reasonable commitments to provide increased funding across the sporting spectrum the Minister has deliberately chosen to attack within the confines of this House a voluntary organisation, the Olympic Council of Ireland, whose members give up their time freely for the cause of Olympic sport. He had ample opportunities outside the House to criticise them. Indeed he could have done so on the occasions he has met with them.
It would appear that the Government have been stung by the public reaction to the Tánaiste's recent attempt to pull a stroke which was publicly and rightly repudiated by the Olympic Council of Ireland in the interest of protecting their autonomy and freedom.
Horse manure.
The Tánaiste should be given a gold medal.
At the outset of his career, it was unworthy of the Minister with responsibility for Sport to misinform the public on the relationship between the Olympic Council of Ireland and the sports federations.
I appeal to the Government and the Minister with responsibility for Sport to work in partnership with the Olympic Council of Ireland on a friendly co-operative basis. I urge the Minister to pursue that line of argument. I call on the Government to establish a national sports council to oversee and spearhead the future development of sports policy and to ensure that money is spent properly. In conclusion I urge them to accept this motion which has been proposed by Fine Gael as this would be in the best interests of sport and of young athletes both now and in the future.
The Tánaiste should be given a gold medal.
That is the nicest bit of athletics that some of those Deputies have had in a long time.
The Olympic Council of Ireland should be given a gold medal for not adhering to the Tánaiste's wishes.
If we have finished the after-match drinks, I will put the question.
Amendment put.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 72; Níl, 62.
Tá
- Ahern, Dermot.
- Andrews, David.
- Aylward, Liam.
- Barrett, Michael.
- Brady, Gerard.
- Brady, Vincent.
- Brennan, Mattie.
- Briscoe, Ben.
- Browne, John (Wexford).
- Burke, Raphael P.
- Calleary, Seán.
- Callely, Ivor.
- Clohessy, Peadar.
- Collins, Gerard.
- Connolly, Ger.
- Coughlan, Mary Theresa.
- Cullimore, Séamus.
- Daly, Brendan.
- Davern, Noel.
- Dempsey, Noel.
- Dennehy, John.
- de Valera, Síle.
- Ellis, John.
- Fahey, Frank.
- Fahey, Jackie.
- Fitzgerald, Liam Joseph.
- Fitzpatrick, Dermot.
- Flynn, Pádraig.
- Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
- Harney, Mary.
- Hillery, Brian.
- Hilliard, Colm.
- Hyland, Liam.
- Jacob, Joe.
- Kelly, Laurence.
- Kenneally, Brendan.
- Kirk, Séamus.
- Kitt, Michael P.
- Kitt, Tom.
- Lawlor, Liam.
- Lenihan, Brian.
- Leonard, Jimmy.
- Leyden, Terry.
- Lyons, Denis.
- Martin, Micheál.
- McDaid, Jim.
- McEllistrim, Tom.
- Molloy, Robert.
- Morley, P.J.
- Nolan, M.J.
- Noonan, Michael J. (Limerick West).
- O'Connell, John.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donoghue, John.
- O'Hanlon, Rory.
- O'Keeffe, Ned.
- O'Kennedy, Michael.
- O'Leary, John.
- O'Rourke, Mary.
- O'Toole, Martin Joe.
- Power, Seán.
- Quill, Máirín.
- Roche, Dick.
- Smith, Michael.
- Stafford, John.
- Treacy, Noel.
- Tunney, Jim.
- Wallace, Dan.
- Wallace, Mary.
- Wilson, John P.
- Woods, Michael.
- Wyse, Pearse.
Níl
- Ahearn, Therese.
- Allen, Bernard.
- Barrett, Seán.
- Bell, Michael.
- Belton, Louis J.
- Boylan, Andrew.
- Bradford, Paul.
- Browne, John (Carlow-Kilkenny).
- Bruton, Richard.
- Byrne, Eric.
- Connaughton, Paul.
- Cosgrave, Michael Joe.
- Cotter, Bill.
- Creed, Michael.
- D'Arcy, Michael.
- Deasy, Austin.
- Deenihan, Jimmy.
- De Rossa, Proinsias.
- Doyle, Joe.
- Dukes, Alan.
- Durkan, Bernard.
- Enright, Thomas W.
- Farrelly, John V.
- Fennell, Nuala.
- Finucane, Michael.
- FitzGerald, Garret.
- Flaherty, Mary.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Foxe, Tom.
- Gilmore, Eamon.
- Gregory, Tony.
- Harte, Paddy.
- Higgins, Jim.
- Hogan, Philip.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kavanagh, Liam.
- Kenny, Enda.
- Lee, Pat.
- Lowry, Michael.
- McCartan, Pat.
- McCormack, Pádraic.
- McGahon, Brendan.
- McGinley, Dinny.
- McGrath, Paul.
- Mitchell, Gay.
- Mitchell, Jim.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Nealon, Ted.
- Noonan, Michael. (Limerick East).
- O'Shea, Brian.
- O'Sullivan, Gerry.
- Pattison, Séamus.
- Quinn, Ruairí.
- Rabbitte, Pat.
- Ryan, Seán.
- Shatter, Alan.
- Sheehan, Patrick J.
- Spring, Dick.
- Stagg, Emmet.
- Taylor, Mervyn.
- Taylor-Quinn, Madeleine.
- Yates, Ivan.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Dempsey and Clohessy; Níl, Deputies Flanagan and Boylan.
Amendment declared carried
Motion, as amended, put and agreed to.
- Estimates 1992. - Vote 32: Agriculture and Food (Revised Estimate) (Resumed). Vote 1: President's Establishment (Resumed). Vote 2: Houses of the Oireachtas and the European Parliament (Resumed). Vote 7: Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised Estimate) (Resumed). Vote 8: Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised Estimate) (Resumed). Vote 9: Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised Estimate) (Resumed). Vote 11: State Laboratory (Resumed). Vote 12: Secret Service (Resumed). Vote 13: Office of the Attorney General (Resumed). Vote 14: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Resumed). Vote 15: Valuation and Ordnance Survey (Resumed). Vote 16: Civil Service Commission (Resumed). Vote 17: Office of the Ombudsman (Revised Estimate) (Resumed). Vote 18: Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Resumed). Vote 44: Increases in Remuneration and Pensions (Additional Estimate) (Resumed).
- Ar ais chuig clár ábhair
- Criminal Evidence Bill, 1992: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage.