Mr. Brian Kavanagh:

In regard to Deputy Ellis's comments, the names of races will change if there is a ban on sponsorship. The sponsor buys the right to name the race so the Hennessy Gold Cup would not longer be called that if there was no sponsor. This relates to the issue raised by Deputy Walsh. The prize money in horse racing goes to the issue of international competitiveness. Sprinter Sacre ran at Punchestown yesterday - a number of other very good horses will be running there later in the week - because those who run the festival engaged with our sponsors approximately two months ago. They realised that Cheltenham and Aintree had increased their prize money and, as a result, they approached the sponsors in search of extra money, they asked us to match this and they dipped into their own pockets. As a result, they were able to increase the value of yesterday's race in order to encourage the owners of Sprinter Sacre to allow the horse to run. This had an obvious knock-on effect on the attendance at the meeting. I wish to reiterate that in our industry - I am sure the position is the same in other sports - prize money gives rise to an issue of international competitiveness. If we do not have the right level of prize money, people will not bring their horses here either to run or to be trained. They will go where the best prize money is on offer. There is no sponsorship ban in the UK and they will race their horses in Britain rather than Ireland.

In the context of what the Chairman stated, I am of the view that it would be wrong to confine the value of the drinks companies' sponsorship to the actual cash amounts they invest in sporting events or races. What they also bring is a very high level of marketing expertise. Deputy Walsh referred to the Galway festival, which is a product of those who run the track working very closely with the sponsors - Guinness is the principal sponsor - to develop the meeting. In research carried out by UCD in respect of the festival, it was estimated that it is worth €60 million to the local economy each year. That is not just the position in Galway. I refer, for example, to the seven-day festival held in Listowel, which is probably the biggest of its kind in that part of the country and, again, those who organise it work closely with the sponsors, who invest money in the prize fund and who bring their marketing and promotional expertise to the development side. That is very valuable to the racing sector.