Mr. Denis Egan:

Thank you, Chairman and members of the committee. I am grateful for the opportunity to address the committee on the draft general scheme of the Horse Racing Ireland (amendment) Bill 2014. At the outset I will give a brief overview of the industry in Ireland in the context of the respective roles of HRI, the Turf Club and the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee, which I will refer to as the national hunt committee during the presentation. My colleague, Neville O’Byrne, who is on my right-hand side, and is senior steward of the Turf Club, will then take the committee through some of the specific provisions in the draft scheme which are a cause of concern for us. We have already made a submission to the committee which covers these and other points in greater detail. Michael Hickey, who is on my left, who is senior steward of the national hunt committee, will make a brief presentation on point-to-point racing. At the end of our presentation we will be more than happy to take any questions members of the committee might have on any aspect of our presentation.

Horse racing in Ireland is promoted and regulated by two very different bodies. Horse Racing Ireland is a State body chartered with the development and promotion of the sport of horse racing. The Turf Club and national hunt committee, or the Racing Regulatory Body, as it is known in legislation, is the independent regulatory body responsible for ensuring the integrity of the sport. With the enactment of the betting (amendment) Bill the racing industry will to a much greater extent be funded from betting tax. Betting on Irish racing, including international betting on Irish racing, is dependent on a clean, regulated sport. Likewise, income from media rights which was referred to in great detail by the Association of Irish Racecourses, AIR, and Bord na gCon in the previous session, depends on a clean, regulated sport to maximise revenues. Regulation of racing in Ireland has been provided, independently, by the Turf Club and the national hunt committee for more than 200 years.

In their presentations to the committee all of the stakeholders in Irish racing have recognised the need for an independent regulator. That is something we will stress throughout our presentations today. The proposed Horse Racing Ireland (amendment) Bill 2014 has, as currently constituted, the potential to seriously compromise the independence of the Racing Regulatory Body and, by extension, to compromise the integrity of Irish racing.

In any industry best practice suggests that regulation should be independent of promotion. In the food sector, Bord Bia and the Food Safety Authority operate entirely independently of each other and in the health sector the HSE and HIQA operate independently of each other. One has only to look at the financial sector in Ireland to see the problems that arise when there is inadequate regulation. There are provisions in the proposed legislation which, if enacted, would give an excessive level of control over the functions of the Racing Regulatory Body to the promotional body for the sport, Horse Racing Ireland. We support the original intention of the Indecon report and the Smith and Williamson review; namely, to "streamline" and identify savings in the administration of the industry. The savings of €1.5 million originally targeted by this process were identified by a joint Horse Racing Ireland-Racing Regulatory Body task force in early 2013.

A large proportion of the savings involves transferring costs from Horse Racing Ireland, HRI, to the racecourses while another portion of the savings identified will result from improvements to IT systems. All of the savings originally targeted from this process can be implemented without any change to existing legislation governing the industry.

The proposed legislation goes far beyond implementation of the recommendations made by Indecon in its report and may well have the unintended consequence of actually increasing the cost of regulation through a loss of volunteerism from our members.

I will briefly outline what the Racing Regulatory Body is and how it operates. The Racing Regulatory Body consists of the Turf Club, established in 1790, which regulates flat racing, and the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee, established in 1869, which regulates both national hunt and point to point racing. Both are all-Ireland organisations which have been independently regulating the sport since they were set up.

There are 167 members of the regulatory body from which four members are selected to steward at each of the 350 race meetings held annually. Others serve on the appeal and referral committee, the licensing committee or the other various committees of the organisation. All of this work is performed on a voluntary basis with regulatory body members travelling the length and breadth of the country at their own expense.

In order to regulate the industry, the regulatory body has developed a comprehensive set of rules based on 224 years of regulatory experience. The rules of racing also reflect international best practice. The regulatory role is carried out by racing officials, executives and the volunteer members.

The costs of regulation, that is, the integrity services costs, are guaranteed by Horse Racing Ireland on the basis of an agreed annual budget. The regulatory body licenses all participants in the industry. I will now hand over to Neville O'Byrne, who will outline our main concerns on the proposed legislation.