Mr. John Moloney:

I am chairman of the media rights committee within Horse Racing Ireland and Mr. Kavanagh is its chief executive officer. He and I, in consultation with the committee and the chief executive officer of the Association of Irish Racecourses, negotiated the contracts. They are very sufficient, but they are commercially sensitive, given the amounts of money involved. However, they are of huge benefit to Irish racecourses.

The Deputy mentioned the strategic plan.

The key objectives of the strategic plan are to increase the value of the Irish racing and breeding industry from €1 billion to €2 billion, complete the current racecourse capital development programme, including the major development of the Curragh and Leopardstown racecourses, and seek the establishment of further schemes to succeed the current scheme. All racecourse will partake in the capital development fund, which amounts to approximately €100 million, of which racecourses will contribute approximately €60 million. Further objectives include to increase racecourse ownership through the expanded racehorse ownership department; increase employment levels and improve welfare in the industry; develop long-term multi-annual funding solutions to replace the current year-to-year basis on which funding is provided through the increase in betting tax from 1% to 2%, about which I have spoken; improve the racecourse product and support racecourses to grow attendances; support the Turf Club in delivering a world class regulatory structure for racing; and implement the Horse Racing Ireland Act 2016. Those are the objectives of the strategic plan.