Tax Reliefs Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-09 ============================================================ Robert Troy (FF), Longford-Westmeath All I would say is I do not know how but, after being beaten twice, you are still in the championship. The championship was never designed to give teams such as Dublin three cracks at the whip but there you have it. I have listened carefully to Senator Gallagher's contribution and I want to reiterate the point that it is a programme for Government commitment that we want to look at a variety of means of increasing participation in sport. This, quite clearly, is one opportunity. The Senator will acknowledge that the level of capital investment in our sporting facilities over the last number of years has been significant. In fact, it has been over and above the target we set ourselves. I am conscious that the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, will be bringing forward a new round of sports capital programmes later this year. This will provide opportunities for sports clubs, including small clubs like my own Ballynacargy GAA, that have built gyms as part of community centres or community facilities. These are available to members, sometimes free of charge and sometimes only costing €40 or €50. Supports currently exist, but I take on board what the Senator said in relation to people paying hundreds of euro annually to be members of a gym. There is an opportunity here to give something back. I have heard what the Senator has said and will certainly bring the very forceful message he has raised here back to my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Harris, for consideration by the whole of the Government in the upcoming budget. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-09/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-09