Budget shows FF Govt have more interest in the price of drink that sport – O’Mahony

The reduction in funding for sport and the decrease in the cost of alcohol has been described as sending out all the wrong signals to the young people of this country Fine Gael Sports Spokesman and Mayo Fine Gael TD, John O’Mahony has said.

“What this is doing is telling our young people that sport isn’t really that important but getting more people to drink alcohol and in the process increase the tax intake is.

“It beggars belief that at a time when society sees the impact of the drink problem on a daily basis that those charged with setting policy in this country see fit to make it easier to purchase alcohol while at the same time, those in charge of sport find that their funding has been cut.

“Total expenditure on sport will be €115 million, a decrease of €12 million from 2009 which was also down from the previous year. This is not really a surprise as evidenced by the manner in which the Sports Capital Grants were disproportionately dished out over the years as nothing more than fulfilling election promises by Fianna Fail.

“This Budget provided an opportunity for the Government to demonstrate that their commitment to sport was more than merely photo opportunistic but they have failed miserably. Once again, sport has suffered because of a desperate lack of any vision of what sport can bring to society.”
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