Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comments. This situation goes back quite a while and our swords have crossed a number of times on the issue. I still have serious concerns with the amount of money Horse Racing Ireland, in particular, receives from the taxpayer and how it is being used. I understand the number of owners in the horse racing industry in Ireland has dropped by almost 50% in recent years, which has led to a concentration of ownership among the wealthy elite at the top while smaller owners are being pushed out. I am not aware if Horse Racing Ireland has a scheme in place to support small owners and breeders to ensure they stay in the industry and can develop and prosper.

Irish Thoroughbred Marketing is a subsidiary of Horse Racing Ireland. The work it does to bring in new buyers is focused on Coolmore and Goffs and, again, that is for the people at the very top end rather than those at the bottom. Significant questions must be asked about all of that and about where the money is being spent, given the amount of public money that is used for prize money at big races. That is unacceptable when one looks at the situation in other sectors around the country. It is simply wrong.

The board of Horse Racing Ireland appeared before the committee and most members would agree that they were very scant in terms of answering hard questions. They did not answer many of the questions. Further questions have been put to the board since then and information has been sought but it has not been forthcoming to an acceptable degree. There are still many questions to be answered. The CEO of Horse Racing Ireland was to come before the committee to answer questions but there has not been any sign of him. I am seriously concerned about his role in getting himself reappointed to that position. At this point, given the amount of money we are talking about, those questions simply must be answered before we can proceed.

Are the boards of all State bodies, be it Bord na gCon or Horse Racing Ireland, subject to the Protected Disclosures Act? If they feel things are happening with how business is conducted, can they forward the information to you, Chairman, or to someone else to ensure matters are corrected? There are still many issues, in particular relating to the horse racing industry - people also have questions about how Bord na gCon is run - that must be addressed. I do not think they have been dealt with appropriately. We have a long way to go before we are in a position to sanction the expenditure of €80 million on such organisations. It is a lot of money.