Mr. Denis Egan:

I am delighted that the committee members seem to have grasped the areas about which we are most concerned. There were a number of questions answered and Mr. Hickey dealt with most of those related to point-to-points. Mr. O'Byrne and I will take the remaining questions on the basis of who asked them.

Deputy Hayden's first question was about the situation with racing internationally with regard to promotion and regulation. Deputy Lawlor already referred to that. One need not look much further than what happens in the UK and the difficulties that arose there about 18 months ago when there was a big drugs scandal. The British Horseracing Authority, BHA, did excellent work and discovered that a particular trainer was using substances that he should not have been using. As it happens, that trainer trained horses for one of the biggest owners in the UK. The authorities did what they had to do but then there was a press conference where the regulator, wearing their promoter's hat, sat beside a representative of the owner and said that this would never happen again. That sent out all the wrong signals and was commented on by the racing press in the UK. It was said at the time was that there should be a respectful tension between the regulator and the promoter. That certainly did not happen over there at the time and it has not reflected well on the situation.

The Deputy also asked why the savings that were identified by the Smith & Williamson review have not been implemented. That is a very good question. Approximately €1.8 million in savings were identified, of which we would agree with approximately €1.5 million. That was the figure originally targeted by the task force when it started. Of that €1.5 million, €650,000 of those costs were simply a transfer of costs from HRI to racecourses. That has not happened. There were savings in personnel costs of approximately €500,000. At one of the final meetings we had with representatives of Smith & Williamson, they accepted that the majority of these savings would not be made in the Turf Club as we had already cut our cost base by 25% over the past five or six years. The balance of the targeted savings of €1.5 million were to come from improvements in IT and changes in policies. Michael Hickey referred to the changes in the online registration of handlers. We are working towards the introduction of online licensing for all licensees. That will result in savings.

The point must be made that the Turf Club is extremely conscious of cost. I believe many people's eyes were opened today when they heard about the huge volunteerism carried out by the members of the club. To be nominated, for example, to steward in Dundalk on a Friday night during December means one might leave Dundalk at 10 p.m. and in many cases have a two hour drive home and only arrive home at midnight, for the love of the sport. Senator O'Brien asked about the sustainability of that. Long may it last, and we have plenty of people who are willing to do it. Each racecourse has a panel of volunteers to steward. In many cases, people are disappointed that they are not being asked to steward often enough. We have only 1,400 positions to fill, but we would have no trouble filling 2,000 positions.

The third question asked by the Deputy related to the general costs of integrity. I will hand over to Neville O'Byrne shortly to elaborate further on volunteerism, but the total cost of integrity is approximately €6 million per annum. Of that, approximately €2 million relates to racing officials who turn up on a given day. We could have 12 to 15 racing officials at a fixture on a given day. There is approximately €500,000 for veterinary costs, €300,000 in medical costs and €1.1 million for drug testing. In view of what has been happening, certainly in the courts and overseas, that figure will unfortunately have to increase in coming years. Our security cost is approximately €670,000 and administration costs are approximately €1 million. There are legal fees of approximately €250,000 and there are some other incidental amounts, such as jockeys drug testing for which the figure is about €70,000 and point-to-point costs of €450,000, which Michael Hickey referred to earlier.

I am conscious that there are many questions so I will hand over to Neville O'Byrne, who will deal with the other questions asked by the Deputy.