Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Irish Sport Horse Alliance representatives for the presentation. It raised numerous issues that we need to address. I was given a question on Horse Sport Ireland by Deputy Darragh O'Brien this morning. We met Irish Sport Horse Alliance representatives some months ago and they made a presentation to us. Horse Sport Ireland is a limited company. Will the Irish Sport Horse Alliance representatives explain the structure? Bord na gCon and Horse Racing Ireland are semi-State bodies. Why was there a departure for Horse Sport Ireland? The Irish Sport Horse Alliance has been set up as a voluntary group. In fairness, the alliance is not describing itself as being in opposition to Horse Sport Ireland. Why are Horse Sport Ireland representatives not sitting before the committee today making these points? HSI is the governing body or the ruling body for the industry. I am not questioning the bona fides of Mr. O'Connor but I am trying to get to the heart of the issue. We have Irish Sport Horse Alliance, which is a voluntary group. I fully accept that. Mr. Broderick is a neighbour of mine and I know his facilities well. He has a superb training establishment beside Thurles. It is a credit to the Broderick family.

The public perception is that our showjumping teams are starting to do better internationally. That is the perception. We went through a trough when we were unable to compete at the highest level. My perception is that now we are becoming successful. I read somewhere that a large number of jockeys or riders rode internationally for Ireland last year. There could be five or six per team at a show, yet the teams had multiples of that number riding internationally. Obviously, the riders all have their own horses. How many of those horses are Irish-bred? There was a time when almost every horse in a show with an Irish rider was Irish-bred. What percentage is not sourced here?

The Irish Sport Horse Alliance representatives did not mention eventing too much in the presentation. Does the market for eventing horses have the same issues as showjumping? At the trials in Badminton and other places we see the odd Irish competitor. The Irish team completed successfully internationally there in eventing recently. Do the same problems arise with eventing in terms of structure and prize money, being able to compete at international level, and the breeding of the horses?

Let us go back to funding and the hub of the issue. For Horse Racing Ireland and Bord na gCon there is a 4:1 split in what the Government gives. The Irish Sport Horse Alliance produced a graph in the brochure given to us.

It shows the horse industry in Ireland at €64 million, the greyhound industry at €16 million, and the sport horse sector at €3.96 million.

Both of those industries would make the point that they have a betting tax that generates income for the Exchequer. They argue that is why they are getting this money back into their industry and that it is self-financing. The Irish Sport Horse Alliance does not have the vehicle to do that. Is Horse Sport Ireland looking for some of that 80:20 split to make it a three-way split rather than a two-way split? No one can argue with the figures the witnesses have given for the number of people employed, the generation of income and the potential of the industry. The other two industries would defend their position very vigorously. Is that where Horse Sport Ireland wants to source the income to promote its industry?

The Dublin Horse Show is world-renowned and we all go and enjoy our day out. It is probably the only day most of us will go to a showjumping event. Mr. Broderick said he was in Portugal for the past six weeks. Will the Irish Sport Horse Alliance be able to attract the top-flight riders here if there are these four or five top events in the year? Horse racing tracks such as Punchestown and Leopardstown have grade 1 races which will be targeted. I suppose it is down to our success on the racing front that not many horses come across the water to run in Irish races irrespective of how valuable they are. It may be that we have become so successful - we are able to go over and win 17 races in Cheltenham - that there is not much point in them coming to try to win races here in Punchestown. Will the Irish Sport Horse Alliance be able to attract the top-flight riders here when they have their own European circuit?

I fully appreciate how the Irish Sport Horse Alliance is trying to promote its industry. Will the witnesses flesh out some of the things said so that we can try to put a structure in place to get agreement on a way forward?