Mr. Mark Flanagan:

In 2018, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine got Indecon to do an in-depth report into the viability of this industry and whether there is room for it to grow and what it is like in the rest of the world. That was a very positive report and it is the benchmark for all things that we do and that the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine does. It identified that there was huge potential for the sport if it was supported financially.

Just for the track it would cost about €1 million to €1.5 million to cover car parking and an all-weather track. It is not a huge sum of money in terms of some bills that are out there. The maintenance of the track is an interesting one. They are different from thoroughbred racing tracks in that they are used as training centres. Throughout America and Europe, the tracks are training centres. There might be 200 or 300 horses stabled in tracks in Europe and in the United States. If we had 50 horses stabled there, they pay rent and that goes towards the upkeep of that track. People also have those places to train their horses. As I mentioned earlier, those are the facilities we lack in Ireland. It is not just a racetrack; it is a training track. It is a training track seven days a week. A trainer might have another job and just comes back at 5 o'clock to train their horses. It is not necessary to be a full-time trainer but they need a place to train. It is not possible to have horses training on the road or the beach. We need facilities.