Mr. Nicky Hartery:

A lot of questions - about 20 - have been asked. If I miss one of them, please come back to me on it.

I will start with Senator Anthony Lawlor who asked three questions, the first of which was about the time I could give to this role. I gave a lot of consideration to it before I decided to take it, particularly the time I could give to it. It is not the degree of difficulty that is the issue but giving the role the appropriate amount of time. I committed to giving it the appropriate time to make sure it would be done properly and that at the end of my term the organisation would be in a far better place. My predecessor did a fine job and I hope that when I pass on the baton, the next person will get it in better shape again. I hope every chairman who comes after me will have the same attitude to the role. That is my attitude to it.

On betting tax, I appreciate the support. The CEO and I will come back to the committee on the issue. It is not about picking out one element but about ensuring people are fully aware of all of the different elements of fundraising within HRI, including the foal levy, and where we might be in that regard in the next two to five years.

The Senator's third question was about the few dominant trainers. It is interesting because on a weekly basis fields will include the offspring of the top sires and the top trainers and so forth will be seen. The other day I was reflecting on the fact that of the top ten trainers, probably only three of them were there five to seven years ago. That movement will happen every five to ten years. There are quite a number of new young trainers coming through in Ireland; therefore, in time there is a changing of the guard. As in all industries, that puts pressure on people to perform better, which can be good, as much as anything else. I look at what is going on and the standards being set in Ireland are exceptionally good. I do not only look at Aidan O'Brien as being Irish. It is a global picture. Irish trained horses race in England, France and the United States. In the past they only raced in Ireland and the United Kingdom, but lots of trainers now race their horses in the United States and France. Therefore, it is a different playing pitch, but changes will happen in time. They are the dynamics of the industry. The key owners in the seventies were probably not the key owners in the eighties. They are definitely not the key owners today.

There was a question about harness racing. The one thing I will say about it is that I have been to the Hambletonian twice. As I have seen it in the United States in particular - New Jersey is a great state for it - I am quite familiar with it and, therefore, the question is interesting for me. I have not, however, looked into it in Ireland. In response to what the first Deputy asked of me, I do not see or hear a lot about it, but we will pick up on it.

I am delighted that there is support for drug testing, about which Deputy Jackie Cahill spoke.

I agree with the points made about syndicate ownership. I saw how effective it could be in getting more people involved in the industry.

The division of prize money between flat and national hunt racing was the subject of another question. I have not looked into it, but I will take the question away and look at it.

Attendances are back to where they were pre the recession. The annual figure is about 1.3 million, of which the festival meetings, including those in Galway, Listowel, Punchestown and Leopardstown at Christmas time, account for about 40%. There are about seven festival meetings which the include the Fairyhouse festival meeting at Easter. Attendances at all other tracks account for 60% of the figure. The comment that attendances are lower at tracks such as Thurles is reasonable and accurate. It is something that will be looked at because it is all part of promoting the industry.

The one thing we need to be careful of is the idea of people who attend race meetings being the few who are well-heeled and go racing and so forth. When one looks at many sports, and I have lived in Switzerland where motor car racing and the motor show in Geneva are big things, one gets the same principals, but they are a minute number of the 28,900, or let us say 30,000, people involved in the industry in Ireland. As has been said, there are many people who do a lot of hard work in the industry locally on the stud farms preparing horses for racing and so forth. We need to keep that in mind.

The other question from Deputy Cahill was on bookmakers. The bookmakers' stands at the racecourses are an endangered species. When we consider the opportunities we have to support the industry we will take that into account and I will revert to the Deputy on the matter. I have noted what he said.

I might not have Deputy Martin Kenny's questions in the order he asked them. He referred to small breeders struggling and a rebalance. Many of the small breeders I see in my part of the world multitask, if I can put it that way. They might be doing cattle, milk or whatever and they do a great deal of multitasking. Unless one has a specific capability in the breeding lines and the like, the industry will pay for what it wants, which is what the industry does, and it does not pay for what it does not want. That will always be a difficulty. It is an industry that very much refreshes itself. For example, right after the recession in 2008, 2009 and 2010 there was a significant drop in foal numbers in the country. We had significant overproduction and what happens then is the bottom 10% or 15% of the industry falls out. That will happen as that is just the dynamics of an industry.

The Deputy referred to working conditions in stables. One of the things I have got myself and our CEO involved in is staffing. We realise it is not a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job and so forth but currently Kieran Mulvey is pulling the employers, the employee groups and HRI together and is working that diligently. We hope to have an appropriate outcome emerge from that process by the end of this year and hopefully even sooner. This is a work in progress and I do not wish to say more on it at this point. However, I know there is a good programme in place and I hope to see it come out on the right side for everyone.