Mr. Neville O'Byrne:

Senator O'Brien also raised questions about the Curragh, but before I respond to them I wish to comment further on head 5. What Mr. Egan has said illustrates the concerns of the Turf Club about head 5 and about the interpretation of what is meant by HRI directives, in particular where there is a proposal to remove the obligation for its directives to comply with the rules of the Turf Club where they relate to race integrity.

I do not propose to go into the history of the Curragh, but the proposal on the Curragh which has been approved by the members of the Turf Club is that essentially a new company is going to be set up with effectively three shareholders, the Turf Club, HRI and a number of investors who will come together to redevelop the Curragh. In response to Senator O'Brien's question on what the Turf Club is doing about the Curragh, the Turf Club will effectively will lose control of the Curragh to the new entity because the Turf Club will only be a one third shareholder in the Curragh, but the reason - and this issue was widely debated - is that we all believe it is good for Irish racing that the Curragh needs to be redeveloped and we are being supported very strongly by HRI in this and we have a number of investors who are prepared to support it as well. I believe everybody who is involved in Irish racing almost without exception would agree that it is for the good of Irish racing that the Curragh be redeveloped. That is the proposal and it is going forward.