Ms Geraldine Larkin:

Senator Landy asked a number of questions on the sale of Harold’s Cross greyhound stadium, the decision to cut prize money, issues relating to artificial insemination, our staff allocation and the control committee. I will deal with that group of questions first, which might impact on some of the other questions raised.

Senator Landy inquired about the analysis that was done on the stadium in Harold’s Cross. Apart from the analysis carried out by the board on that stadium and the suite of stadia owned by the IGB, the matter was examined separately by Indecon.

It was the conclusion of the independent analysis by Indecon and the board's deliberations that the Harold's Cross stadium be put up for sale. It was not an easy decision and was not taken lightly by the executive or the board. Among the factors contributing to that decision is the debt, which is not sustainable. We have to address that. We want to maximise the value we get from disposing of the Irish Greyhound Board, IGB stadia. The potential value realisable from any sale is a crucial factor. Another factor is the proximity of other tracks and the impact on the dog pool and the owners and trainers in an area if a track is to be disposed of. For those multiple reasons the Harold’s Cross track was nominated for sale. There is a commitment in our response to Indecon that it will be ready for sale by the end of next year. That means that in the meantime we will secure planning permission for the site.

Some committee members asked when the other property we have for sale was put up for sale in the first instance and what is the process for the future and the properties we have yet to sell. Those for sale are those in Limerick. They have been for sale since the IGB moved into its new headquarters. The main properties yet to sell are the land in Cork and Harold’s Cross. We will maximise the value from those properties by seeking planning permission and the relevant zoning necessary on them. We will not be giving them away to the first bidder who comes along. We are very clear on that.

There have been several questions about how we will turn this industry around and get back to growing attendance. My focus as the new chief executive officer is on looking forward rather than backwards and using Indecon as a key driver for that. We have already started, in advance of Indecon having commenced, considering the branding of all tracks such that we have local branding customised to each local track but maintain an overall policy and feel from an IGB corporate perspective. That is driven forward using traditional marketing methodologies and new digital infrastructures. We are pushing this through Facebook and other social media and encouraging the younger generation to attend at tracks and share their experiences with others.

This work is based on significant research and market analysis such that we now have our customer attendance segmented and we are very clear about the different types of customer, whether the general owner-trainer attending or the corporate leisure patron or the benefit attendees. We have very clear analysis and market segmentation and we are tracking each and every one of those on a stadium-by-stadium basis such that we can gear and focus how much new marketing we should use through digital infrastructures and the level of traditional marketing and radio campaigns. There is a very informed picture behind that. Taking all of those factors and the different market segments into account our intention is in the coming year to grow the various customer segments by between 1% and 6%.

That marketing strategy and drive to new attendance is also driven by proposals to target new levels of ownership. The current breeder scheme that lapsed with the reduction and reversal of the 2012 increase in prize money unfortunately did not give us the anticipated bounce in owners and breeders. I want to expand the base of owners and see how we might bring in new owners and bring syndicates and syndication back into the industry. It has often been said that the greyhound is the poor man’s racehorse but it still costs a lot of money, relatively speaking. There is a huge time commitment in the ongoing care, training and maintenance of a greyhound. I want to consider how to grow ownership. To do that in a way that is practical, pragmatic and focused and will deliver results we will have to sit down with the various stakeholders in the industry and come up with the best solution to growing ownership. Already there have been several suggestions, some of them poles apart, on where it would be best to focus our money. It is a matter of bringing all the ideas together and pushing that forward.

To grow attendance we are considering how we make our sales. There has been talk of getting staff at track level to go out and push sales. They are masters of many things. We are examining how we can better support them and how we can more intelligently and strategically use our track staff resources. We have always had a sales unit in Thurles for taking external bookings. We have done limited pro-active work on outbound sales. A core initiative will be to have an outbound sales team that will be centrally based but will support all managers. That work has started. There is a pilot under way and it is beginning to yield results.

Many speakers have mentioned that costs have escalated over recent years but there has in fact been considerable cost reduction and cost cutting throughout the organisation. Our marketing and advertising expenditure has suffered and been significantly reduced. On closer examination of the marketing budget it is evident that a disproportionate amount of money is being spent to convert the converted, so to speak, going directly to the greyhound industry. This will be an unpopular decision but I see us diverting more funds to general marketing as opposed to industry-related marketing such that we can target those not coming into the industry. That gives a flavour of some of the high level measures we are taking to grow attendance at all tracks.

Senator Landy mentioned the continuing difficulties with artificial insemination, AI. That has been a significant issue and has been a priority for me and my colleague, Hilary Forde. Proposals have been submitted to, and approved by, the board which I believe will shortly be approved by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. These will clarify the position for the future and give us the time to conduct a genetic study of the aging of straws and its long-term impact on a greyhound.

That has been dealt with.

The Senator also asked for the membership of the control committee. I cannot answer him on that as I do not have the membership to hand, but I will be glad to provide it subsequently in writing. The control committee is independent. If they are answerable, they are answerable to the appeals committee.