Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses from Bord na gCon, including the acting chief executive officer. I thank Mr. Meaney for his opening statement. With regard to the management of the greyhound industry, it is clear the sector is at a crossroads.

In the context of the current board, the committee must assess the results presented in the 2015 annual report and how the board has driven matters in respect those results. My concern is that the board's judgment has been called into question on a number of occasions in recent years. First, on a question I posed to Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine officials, the 2015 accounts did not appear on the IGB website until February 2017, which, I suggest, is not in the interests of transparency and fairness. Second, with regard to the reduction in prize money, while it is said the IGB has a cash surplus, at what cost is this to the industry in terms of shrinkage? We are talking about reduced prize money and increased tote retention, which essentially means less value for the punter attending the track. While this may be a short-term gain for the IGB, it will have significant consequences in the future.

On Enterprise Targeting Solutions, it was openly admitted by the board at a previous meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that it had not done its homework in checking out the company before the sponsorship contract was signed. Legal fees rose substantially in 2015 to €1.443 million, having been €587,000 in 2014, and there have been a number of high-profile incidents surrounding that. It is very important that greyhound racing is marketed correctly. We have seen the issues surrounding the logistics of the closure of Harold's Cross and how that was carried out. I am aware that a number of families had aimed to attend on St. Valentine's night and had booked out the restaurant. If we are spending money on marketing, that gives a terrible view of the industry and how we go about our business in terms of the capacity to make decisions.

The first point I want to focus on in the 2015 annual report is wages. Prize money and the overall turnover of the sector are decreasing but the one thing that is definitely not decreasing is wages. I know the catering section was taken over. It is stated on page 39 of the report that €867,791 is the direct and operational cost and that food and beverage staff-related costs were €2.778 million. Is that €2.778 million exclusively in respect of the 57 employees who were taken on?