Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to find out what the Senator is seeking. My point is that we made a minor reduction to the horse and greyhound fund because every part of the Department’s budget must take its fair share in terms of reduced expenditure. I also make the strong point that the allocation represents very good value for money. If somebody else thinks that there should be a different amount allocated then let us hear it.

In terms of the recommendations in the Indecon report, we have got agreement to implement practically all of them but in order to make the changes we must introduce new legislation. Many of the recommendations were about changing the board’s structure. That is happening and it will be in the legislation. A focus of the recommendations was to ensure that we do not duplicate the work of the Turf Club and Horse Racing Ireland in terms of taking a joint service approach to human resources, HR, pension management, administration and such matters. The vast majority of that has been agreed. There are one or two outstanding issues which I have asked both the Turf Club and HRI to resolve. I am hopeful those issues will be resolved within the coming weeks before the legislation is introduced. The recommendations in the Indecon report will be implemented practically in full. Any of the decisions in the report that we decide not to implement will be decided on the basis that we do not think it is the right thing to do, as opposed to not being able to do them. We have taken the report very seriously, as we should, and we will do the same with the greyhound industry.

In terms of the fund being for racing, it is spent to ensure we have an infrastructure in place for a horse and greyhound racing industry. If one does not have top class horse racing and greyhound racing in Ireland one will not have the industry that feeds into it. This is not just about getting numbers to race meetings. It is about ensuring that we are breeding, training and developing horses in Ireland as that plays to our natural competitive advantage in terms of having a limestone-based grass production system. We are privileged to live on this island in terms of its grass growth potential that allows us to produce dogs and horses in particular that have very strong bones and good muscle development. That is the reason people who have a lot of money to spend and who are very committed to the industry choose Ireland as the place to develop their bloodstock. We will maintain that.

The total attendance at race meetings in 2012 was just under 1.2 million people. To give an idea of scale, that is approximately the same number of people who attend the GAA hurling and football championships. The average attendance at a race meet in 2012 was just under 3,500 people. These are not insubstantial numbers. The numbers attending race meets is just an indication of the level of support for the industry but it is a significant indication.

In terms of the funding of infrastructure for other sports, it is important also to note that the State does from time to time, rather than on an annual basis, invest heavily in infrastructure such as the Aviva stadium or other pieces of sporting infrastructure in various parts of the country through the sports capital grant programme or significant one-off capital expenditure. That does not happen generally in the horse and greyhound industry because we ask them to use the horse and greyhound fund for that purpose.

The questions are fair and I do not wish to become party political. I am sorry if I did. I am protective of the industry because it is genuinely world class. We have done a reasonably good job through recessionary years in this country to maintain an industry that is world class in terms of its standard. Now that our economy is starting to grow again I hope we will be in a position to start increasing the horse and greyhound fund again in the future to allow the industry to grow and expand to its full potential. It does have the potential to grow beyond where it is at the moment.