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

I move amendment No. 55:

In page 16, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:“(4) Section 42(2) (as inserted by Section 7 of the Act of 2001) should be replaced with the following:

“(2) If in respect of the level of or costs of integrity services or the provision of information pertaining to the integrity services budget in any particular year, or disputes in relation to legitimate budget overruns and unforeseen costs that the Racing Regulatory Body may need to incur to carry out its functions under this Act, agreement is not reached between HRI and the Racing Regulatory Body:

(a) they may agree to the appointment of one expert or group of persons or consultancy arbitrate on (i) the level of integrity services to be provided for that year bearing in mind that the Racing Regulatory Body is obliged to provide integrity services to the highest possible standard to ensure the Rules of Racing are fully and fairly enforced for the benefit of horse racing and breeding in Ireland and that where possible integrity services recommended by the Racing Regulatory Body in any year shall be fully funded for such purpose and (ii) the cost of that level of integrity services; or

(b) in case they fail to agree to any such appointment to arbitrate on that cost or level, the Minister may appoint a person to so decide and the decision of the expert or group or consultancy shall be final and binding on both parties.

HRI shall not be entitled to withhold from the Racing Regulatory Body any funds which are part of an integrity services budget which has been agreed (or which has been determined by an expert or group of persons or consultancy.”.

Given that there are arbitration boards and dispute boards available, there will be no issue with the amendment. When I put forward the amendment, I did not realise it would be a slam dunk. I am glad there is an arbitration board to deal with disputes and budget overruns. My amendment only provides for an extension or subset of it and it should not create any hassle. I am sure the Minister and officials will be delighted that somebody has proposed a simple amendment on which they will not have to do much drafting work. This is about the cost of the integrity service and it concurs with the Minister. It provides for situations in which additional or unforeseen costs or overruns arise in the racing regulatory board rendering it unable to carry out its functions and giving rise to a dispute with HRI. If they cannot resolve such a dispute, we need a mechanism whereby somebody takes an independent, objective view of the matter and arbitrates on whether the level of service provided was required.

As the Minister said, the racing regulatory board is obliged to provide integrity service to the highest possible standard to ensure the rules of racing are fully and fairly enforced to the benefit of horse racing, breeding, owners and punters. Without integrity, we would have nothing. The amendment provides for a fall-back position whereby the Minister could step in and appoint a senior counsel to arbitrate in the event of such a disagreement. It is a simple way to ensure there are no disputes. I do not anticipate it would ever be used. As the Minister said, what is there has not been used. It is always good to have the horse firmly bolted in in order that it does not escape. I am ensuring the legislation is watertight in the event of any dispute. While one can never legislate for every eventuality, this is one I see as apparent.