Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
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.
Chapter 2: Why has exercise in Ireland become expensive?
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?
Chapter 3: What are the implications of high gym membership costs?
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.
So the report I've commissioned is that if we put a cap in terms of the memberships combined of two and a half thousand, that would mean the most an individual person could get back in a calendar year would be 20 percent of that, which would be 500 euro.
Chapter 4: Should gym memberships be tax-deductible?
So you'd claim this back then at the end of the year, like you do with your GP visits or your your medical treatments, dental and so on. Is that how it would work? Absolutely. So what happened, Clare, you take my own situation and I'm married with four kids and my kids will be involved in GA and swimming and soccer and all sorts of sports.
So as a family, you would add up all your sporting memberships over the course of a calendar year. And similar to your medical receipts returned at the end of the year, you would send in your return and you would get a rebate based on your actual spend up to a maximum of 500 euros.
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?
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Chapter 5: What tax relief measures are being proposed for sports memberships?
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. And I raised this on the floor of the Dáil with the Taoiseach. I've spoken with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Jack Chambers.
They are both very open to the idea, but obviously it has to be done in the context of the 2027 budget. Yes, Lorraine Courtney's writing about this today in The Independent. She's saying she gave up her Pilates because with everything else gone up, you just can't afford to have it. And it feels like a luxury. And there are people who would say, well, a Pilates class at 25 euro pop is a luxury.
What do you say? Well, I think that as a government that we need to make exercise and sport affordable. And the government, in my view, should be helping children and families and individuals to play and to participate in as many sports as possible. And I suppose this tax relief would help achieve that.
And I suppose on top of that, there's an opportunity here now to put money back in the pockets of hardworking families and hardworking individuals. while encouraging greater participation in sport. So I see nothing but positive in this. And as I said to you, it is a very specific measure in the programme for government to increase participation in sport, particularly amongst females. Yeah.
A listener says, is this for real? Do you know that there's a housing crisis? No tax relief for most hard-pressed mortgage holders. Walking and running costs nothing. And when you say you're going to put money back into the pockets of the hard-pressed, I mean... People are struggling to pay the grocery bills here, let alone membership of a gym. And that's a very important point.
And what I would say there is that finance should not be a barrier to participation in sport. And this is literally just putting money back into the pockets of families. And I take my own situation, as I said earlier. I have four daughters, Clare, and they're involved in multiple sports. And it can get very, very expensive financially.
Just membership alone, notwithstanding all the trips around the country in terms of the different games that they're playing, etc., and different teams that they're involved in. So I understand that it is quite expensive for the sport. But what I've come across, Clare, is a number of situations where people aren't participating in sport or maybe just playing one sport because of the costs.
And that shouldn't be the case. So this is one very small measure in the context of the national budget. Absolutely, housing is the number one priority for this government. There's €9 billion being invested this year alone. We need to increase supply. There's absolutely no question about that.
But this is just a very specific targeted measure that can increase participation in sport and make exercise and sport affordable for families and individuals right across the country. OK, and you've spoken to Jack Chambers about it, have you? I've spoken to Jack Chambers. He's very open to the idea, but obviously it's in the context of the 2027 budget.
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