Peter Chap Cleere

Exercise in Ireland has become expensive.

Public health campaigns never stop telling us to move more.

But the cost of a gym membership has become just too much for many.

So should we be able to claim tax back on that gym membership?

I'm joined by Fianna Fáil TD Peter Chapclear for more on this.

Good morning to you.

Good morning, Clare.

Good morning to your listeners.

Can we not run the roads now if we can't afford the gym membership?

Yeah, well, that option is still available to everybody.

But look, obviously, one of the specific measures in the programme for government, Clare, is to try and increase participation in sport, particularly amongst females.

And I suppose what I've been calling for for the last number of months is for a 20% tax relief or a tax credit

on memberships of any sort of a sports membership, whether it be a gym, whether it be your local G8 club, whether it be your local swimming pool, whatever the case may be.

I think it will be really, really putting money back into the pockets of the squeeze middle.

And again, I've commissioned a report from the Parliamentary Budget Office in the Oireachtas.

whereby families and individuals would receive a tax credit on their membership fees for sporting organisations that would be capped at €500.

So what would you get?

You'd get 20% back on that.

Exactly, exactly.

So basically the average spend on sports membership per person in Ireland at the moment is actually €415.