Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives from the four groups that are here today. Last week representatives from the owners and the stable staff appeared before the committee. That shows how important the industry is to Ireland.

We are considering this Bill in an unique way in that we are discussing the heads with the interested parties before its Second Stage reading. It is important that during our exchanges today we do not get bogged down by a debate on betting tax. That is an issue for a different Bill completely. Everybody thinks that the bookmakers are out to rob the punters, but we all love taking money off the bookmakers, whether the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan takes money off them in tax or we take our winnings, we do not care. What we need to ensure is that when the Horse Racing Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014 completes its passage through the different stages in the Seanad and the Dáil that we have a better industry at the end of the process. Our main focus is how the industry progresses. We know how many people are employed in this important industry. Whether a person breeds a horse, breaks or trains a horse, rides a horses, bets on a horse or works in a betting shop, it takes a great deal of money and care to get a horse to a racecourse. It is important that we create the conditions to make the industry better.

How we fund the industry is an issue for another day. The Bill is all about getting a better industry. The two main contentions that the four groups present today and the two groups last week relate to heads four and six. Everybody is vying for a position on HRI and on its committees. Do the representatives believe that the committee, as proposed in the Bill, is not large enough and that the number should be increased from 12 to 14 members? As they said, it is about the expertise on the board. I would love to see the jockeys and the stable staff on the board, as they have expertise at a different level from the trainers and owners. It is important to get the legislation right at the beginning.

I do not think the Bill is about knocking the bookmakers but about getting the business right. The taxation of betting will be covered in the Betting Bill.