Mr. Derek Iceton:

Deputy Lawlor asked why point-to-point racing should not be included in the Bill. We contend that the sport has gone from strength to strength under the auspices of the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee. It is an amateur sport whose ethos is sporting endeavour and we see no reason that the State should interfere through HRI in what is a voluntary sporting organisation, akin to the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA.

In response to the question on the Tote, it never ceases to amaze me how something run on the basis of the Tote can give so little back to the industry. The returns are very poor. Sometimes it is said that the pool here is too small. I note in Chester, since the sale of the British Tote, the racecourse has installed its own Tote system, which is highly profitable and is putting large sums of money back into the racing there.

It amazes me when I travel around the world how difficult it is to see Irish racing. I was recently in Singapore on a Friday where they show French racing. There is French national hunt racing on a Friday, which people would not naturally bet on, but on that day in Singapore more money was bet on the French national hunt than in the whole of France. There were no Irish pictures. Where are our media rights? I subsequently spoke to somebody whose job it is to sell media rights and asked where are the bright sparks for our media rights in the future to which he replied "Italy and Israel". We have a world class product here, administered and regulated to the highest standard, yet we cannot get the pictures out to other countries, to give them a product to bet on, of the highest world standard. That is one of the greatest shocks in the industry.