Peter Chap Cleere

speaker

202 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 29 Jun

Peter Chap Cleere’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.

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The Claire Byrne Show · Exercise in Ireland has become expensive · 21 May 2026 podcast

So I think a lot of people would welcome it in principle, but when you think about it, there might still be a barrier to entry there because you have to speculate the money and then you get it back at the end of the year and people mightn't just have it.

Would it not make more sense to do an intervention at the point of paying so that the gyms or the clubs would be able to charge reduced fees to families so it's easier to sign up in the first place?

think that's a very fair point uh claire but my number one priority is trying to make sure that uh the the there's provision made in the budget 2027 for this to be put in place in terms of the actual mechanics and how it works uh i'd be very flexible on it but for me it would be very simple uh given the system that's currently in operation uh to just add sporting memberships very similar to your medical side of things if you are a payee worker at the moment

you can during the course of a year you can actually once you've spent let's say 500 euro on a gym membership you can put in your application and get your rebate straight away so if you're a PAYE worker that option is available to you but for me the simplest way would be over the course of a year add up your memberships and you get a rebate back then similar to your medical expenses

A listener says you can walk or run outside for nothing and get fresh air too.

And we said that at the top.

But they go on to say that Ireland doesn't have the money to fund tax credits for this and we can exercise for free.

So it's expenditure they're saying that shouldn't happen.

Well, as I said, I did commission a report from the Parliamentary Budget Office and if the total cost of the tax relief in 2027 will be a little over £90 million.

And that would mean that every single gym membership, every single sporting membership, everybody using that capacity.

So that's the Rolls-Royce package.

I mean, the government can look at the possibility of introducing, for example, family memberships first and then maybe increasing it up.

But there's a two-pronged approach here, Clare.

The first thing is making sure there's provision in the budget.

And then the next thing is how broad can we make the sporting memberships?

Because when I first heralded this idea, I was asked about things like Irish dancing and sports.

I read an article in The Independent today about Pilates.

So, you know, what defines sport chess?

So all that comes into play.

But for me, the first key thing is to get the funding in the budget.

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