Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One other bugbear of mine is Dundalk race track. It is a fantastic facility but it is not used enough. It shuts down for most of the summer. All weather racing goes on in the UK all the time while we have this fantastic facility that is used perhaps twice a week coming up to Christmas, hardly used at all afterwards and then used once a week after that. There is an opportunity to run race meetings for small trainers, syndicates, etc. Let us examine that and start to use our imagination. I have mentioned the prize funds and how we can use them for imaginative races to encourage the small people involved in the industry.

Anyone who knows racing knows, as Deputy Penrose alluded to, the prizes are all going into the same coffers. Looking at the main races, we can count on one hand the number of owners associated with it. It is sad to see. I am delighted the Minister has come in. I have a passion for this sport. I was first brought to the races across the fields at Punchestown when I was about four years old. I was probably betting. That cannot be done now but in those days, for under 18s, there could be a tote bet of two shillings or whatever a person might have.