Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My point, as well as the point made by other members here, is that to enable the Irish Harness Racing Association, IHRA, to carry out that work, respond to the Indecon report and get those structures up and running, there has to be recognition that it is currently voluntary and has no staff. There needs to be seed funding to enable it to take on that work. While it may not be prudent, in the Minister's view, to give substantial funding at this stage, it is important to provide initial seed funding to enable it to work with the Minister. Given the potential for the sector and for harness racing to grow, it is important to support it in doing so and for the Minister not to give it a massive amount of work to do without any resources, staffing or backup to do it. If the Minister could engage with the association, provide some initial funding and give targets to indicate what the funding for is for, it would enable the association to grow, respond and take the sector forward.