Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
General Scheme of Horse Racing Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion
3:25 pm
Mr. Jimmy Cox:
There has been a great deal of discussion in respect of young people attending race meetings. There are two major obstacles in this regard at present, the first of which relates to the unavailability of Wi-Fi at most racecourses. A certain inhibition exists when it comes to this matter and the bookmakers have some say in that context. Racegoers would certainly like to have access to Wi-Fi at courses but they do not have it at present. The other issue in this regard relates to our attempts to ensure free admission to race meetings for those under 18 years of age. To date, we have not been able to obtain a great deal of agreement on this matter from many racecourses. We are trying various initiatives and we would like the industry to respond to them at some point.
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