Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Joe Keeling. I have had to jump between meetings and I ask him to forgive me for not being here for all of his presentation. I echo the comments which have been made and wish him well on an important aspect of our industry.

I want to focus on funding. Mr. Keeling said one of his priorities will be to achieve a long-term, secure funding base arising from changes in the betting tax regime. Does he have any comment to make on the background to the taxation? My understanding of the history is that originally the Fianna Fáil Government when Charlie McCreevy was Minister for Finance suggested a betting tax of 10% which was subsequently reduced to 1%. When the late Brian Lenihan attempted to increase the tax to 2%, the betting industry reacted very badly. It seems when one considers the share price of some of the betting companies that someone believes they are a good investment. It is somewhat churlish, notwithstanding that everybody wants to reduce his tax bill, to object to a modest increase to 2% when the original proposal was for 10%. Does Mr. Keeling have a view on that? I acknowledge that it is a question of fiscal policy, but Horse Racing Ireland is saying that one of its priorities is to secure long-term funding.

Proposals have been made in respect of online betting and some of the companies involved are already lobbying members of the committee. Interestingly, the companies are in favour of regulation which they believe is the best way to operate. They are relatively happy with the 15% that has been proposed. When I hear that an industry is relatively happy about taxation levels, my antennae go up. I have started asking why we are not looking for more money since online betting is proving to be even more popular than on-track betting. More and more people are gambling, whether that is a good or bad thing, and a lot of pressure is being put on people who turn on their televisions. Increasingly, betting companies are sponsoring major sporting events. They make it very easy for people to access their sites at the press of a button. They say that if a person presses their button, he or she will get €10, €20 or €30 to start them off. We all know there is no such thing as free money. The betting industry can cough up more money than it wants to. Is Horse Racing Ireland mandated to make suggestions to Government in that regard? It may be that it is totally outside its mandate.

My understanding is that the Minister has not committed himself to ring-fencing the money which will flow from changes in the betting regime. To fail to do that would not be a positive way to support the industry.