Mr. Neville O'Byrne:

Volunteerism is at the heart of what goes on in the Turf Club, the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee and the point-to-points. A huge amount of work is done and I think Mr. Egan has given the figures for the number of race meetings and the number of officials we provide. Neither the Turf Club or the INHSC ever paid a dividend in 250 years. The reverse is the case. All of the members have to pay to be members. We have to pay an annual subscription. It does not take a huge amount of calculation to say that if our members had to be paid at the same level others are paid for the work they do in the horse racing industry, it would be a huge cost to the industry. I think that is a very fundamental point and does not need a huge amount of explaining.

Mr. Hickey has given a very clear picture about volunteerism in the point-to-point world. There is a huge amount of volunteerism in the national hunt world and in the flat world, where people provide services. Our committees, for example, are licensing committees and spend a huge amount of time vetting jockeys and trainers, checking yards and doing all this sort of thing. The Turf Club has been in existence for 250 years and there is a pretty good chance that given a fair crack of the whip, it will continue.