Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am fascinated by the submission from HRI. The one case it makes that might have any traction is the veterinary case, and I would be very interested in any independent evidence it has that using a race track for harness racing and for thoroughbreds on different days and at different times would in some way put the thoroughbreds at risk. I would have thought that sport horses and thoroughbreds were not always kept apart in other circumstances. I do not know, for example, if these horses are mixed in farms in a much less regulated situation than on a racecourse. HRI might outline in more detail the veterinary evidence with regard to the risk in sharing the facilities at racecourses around the country.

Mr. Kavanagh says he thinks the Irish Harness Racing Association should develop its own facilities. I presume he would say we should divert State money to do so, and wind up with duplicate sets of facilities. That would have a huge effect on the money available for Horse Racing Ireland, Horse Sport Ireland and everything else. State moneys are a finite fund and depend on whatever the taxpayer pays in. Borrowing is always only a short-term expedient; it always has to be paid back. Is Mr. Kavanagh suggesting that we build duplicate courses all around the country to facilitate harness racing? Would he be willing for money that would have gone to HRI to be diverted into that? That seems to be what he is suggesting. It is a bit like saying hurling and football are incompatible and that we need separate stadiums for them, or that soccer and rugby cannot be played on the same pitches and we need a second Aviva Stadium. I think that argument would be met with a little bit of scepticism by the public. If the race tracks were unsuitable, the first people to tell us so would have been the harness racers. Presumably Mr. Kavanagh means that the tracks are unsuitable for harness racing, not for horse racing. Surprisingly enough, the harness racers have not raised that issue with us. I am sure they would be very interested to hear that Mr. Kavanagh has raised it for them. I think it is slightly disingenuous.

Mr. Kavanagh has also said that stadium harness racing on authorised race courses causes significant difficulties in areas such as fixture allocation. We would all accept that the owner of the course gets priority on it. My understanding is that the harness racers were going to race courses and getting days on which racing was not taking place, so this issue did not arise. I am sure things like media rights negotiation happen between all sports. Maybe Mr. Kavanagh could talk to the IRFU and the GAA about what happened when rugby matches were played in Croke Park. I presume there was rent paid for Croke Park and the IRFU got the media rights negotiation. It seems to be a bit of a red herring, as does the issue of the operation of bookmaker betting.

For us as a committee, the most serious thing is the allegation HRI has made about veterinary issues. I am a little puzzled by it. I would be very interested to get HRI's detailed veterinary report outlining the threats on the veterinary front. We could get it peer reviewed before we write up our own report on the whole horse industry, which I hope will be issued before this Dáil is completed. I would also be interested to hear Mr. Kavanagh's response on the issue of funding if we have to build duplicate facilities for the followers of both sports.

Am I right in understanding that Horse Sport Ireland took the homeless child in and gave it a home?