Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank him for meeting with us. Like previous speakers, I support the motion. I have been steeped in this industry since I was young. I am proud of our reputation and excellence in the sport. However, we need to be realistic. The Minister mentioned the staggering amount of money which France is investing in its industry and we are all aware of the great performance of Great Britain in national hunt and flat racing. Our racecourses are a disgrace, in particular our two top flat racecourses at the Curragh and Leopardstown. In the Celtic tiger era there were plans to construct a world class racecourse at Abbotstown, which would have attracted in foreign trainers.

I agree with the Minister that we are breeding good horses. However, while people are buying them they no longer leave them here for training. While I support this motion before us today a lot more needs to be done for the future and sustainability of this industry. I agree with what was said by the previous two speakers. We have a major artery - the betting industry - that is bleeding. It is not yesterday or the day before that people began betting online, this commenced up to eight years ago. Many of us have had Paddy Power online accounts for years. I would welcome a speedy enactment of the Betting (Amendment) Bill 2012 in 2013.

I agree with Deputy Ó Cuív on the need to ensure we capture taxable income so as to allow the industry to support itself. We should not underestimate the foreign direct investment which this industry has brought to Ireland. Racing is believed to attract rich people. That is true. However, the trainers are not the rich people. They are ordinary hardworking people. What is wonderful about the industry is that it attracts people such as Neil Diamond, Burt Bacharach, Sheikh Mohammed or Sheikh Hamdan. There is now interest in the industry here from Qatar and China. Enterprise Ireland works hard to attract companies like Google and Yahoo here. We have all the natural resources required, in terms of our land, people and talent in this area, to achieve a great horse racing industry here. Let us not underestimate the foreign direct investment that can ensue from the industry in the future.

The reality is that people are no longer going racing. Our racecourses are in a sorry state. When in New Zealand and Australia during the past two years, I went racing. Their racecourses are beautiful while ours are sad. I was told that the sale of television rights in respect of those courses to the SIS virtual betting channel has helped them survive. While everybody here is betting online we do not know where that money is going. It is certainly not going to our Exchequer.