Mr. Brian Kavanagh:

That is to cover the entire world. We look with pride on what organisations such as the IDA and Bord Bia do to promote Ireland overseas. That is what Irish Thoroughbred Marketing does. It has a relatively small team with a staff of nine. They are very hardworking and do a lot of travel around the world. If we take last week for example, the Minister, Deputy Creed, was on an agri-food trade mission to the Gulf. We were able to take part in that and he very kindly hosted and spoke at a reception for Irish Thoroughbred Marketing in Dubai with Dubai trainers and Dubai-based owners about the advantages of buying horses in Ireland. Last year, 25% of the horses that won races in Meydan, which is the main racecourse in Dubai, were Irish bred. They were born here. Last year, seven of the first ten finishers at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe were born in Ireland. The Melbourne Cup in Australia has become a big market for stayers, which are horses that run over longer distances. Three or four years ago, eight of the first ten in the Melbourne Cup, the biggest sporting event in Australia, were Irish. They had "Ire" after the horse's name. Irish Thoroughbred Marketing is out there trying to encourage and promote these successes to get buyers to buy horses at the horse sales in Ireland, to have horses in training in Ireland or to base their breeding operation in Ireland. Compared to some of its international counterparts, it is run on a shoestring. I am not belittling €1.8 million because it is a decent amount of money but if we were able to spend more, it could do a lot more.

To return to the earlier point about Brexit, if it becomes a problem we will be challenged very strongly to look for new international markets. The difficulty we have is that national hunt racing, which is the side that produces many of our foals, it is an activity that is restricted to Ireland, Britain and France. The flat scene is where the global market and global buyers are. We will have to travel the world a bit further. There is great opportunity there. American buyers are now looking to Europe because pedigrees have gone stale in America. There are difficulties in America with the use of medication on horses. There are people questioning the toughness of the American breed and they are coming to buy horses in Europe now and particularly in Ireland in order to bring them into their pedigrees to strengthen them. To do that, we need to get feet on the ground around the world, as Ms Eade said.

Deputy Martin Kenny:That is helpful. The other issues that come to mind and which were mentioned earlier are the betting tax, the number of people who are at the tracks and the amount of on-course betting that is going on. I mentioned the last time when Mr. Keeling was here that there was an issue with Dundalk and the bookmakers. There was a court case going on around that. Mr. Keeling assured me at the time there were no other court cases happening. Is that still the case?