Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. This is a very important amendment. My worry is that the representative body of authorised racecourses includes some very powerful bodies, and the voices of smaller racecourses might be overcome. I hope that is not the position and that ordinary racecourses have their voices heard. It is important because property rights and legal issues are involved.

If something is not done in a fair manner, I would be the first to kick over the traces. If I had to, I would take a court case on my own for the people involved, because it is very important that the voices of small racecourses are heard. No one should think there is a free lunch. From 2001, HRI was clamouring for media rights, and it got them. Small racecourses are not run on a free gratisbasis. They pay money to HRI for every meeting. As I said earlier, there is now a demand for more money. The money may trickle down to racecourses, and it should, particularly the smaller ones that have felt excluded.

The Minister has worked hard on the wording and I will seek an assurance from the representative bodies of racecourses that if, for example, there are to be three representatives on a board, one from smaller racecourses should be included. The owners of racecourses should be properly represented in order to achieve this agreement. I do not want things being circumscribed by someone who is very intelligent and will try to get around the thrust of what we are trying to achieve today.

I read out the percentages at a previous meeting. Nobody has contradicted them, which means they stand uncorrected. I was correct. I spent some time researching the figures. I said section 10, which deals with the distribution of income from media rights, must be deleted, and I am glad it has been deleted.I wanted a fair shake-up. Before media rights were an issue, every course was in the same situation, which was very important. It is the lifeblood of racecourses. Large racecourses can negotiate major sponsorships and are in the public eye and constantly on television. Smaller racecourses such as Kilbeggan, Ballinrobe and Roscommon have to scrabble for attention and work hard to try to survive. I am not ashamed to articulate on behalf of such voices today. We have done a good day's work. The Minister is dealing with the issue, which I have acknowledged. I accept his and his officials' bona fides. They have worked very hard. I will now cast my eye wider and make sure the voices of smaller racecourses are heard.

I thank the Minister very much for listening.