Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 November 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2018: Motion

3:30 pm

Photo of Martin KennyMartin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his opening statement. I note the final sentence of the third paragraph of his submission: "The Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund has been front and centre in providing this investment and has played a pivotal role in shaping the destiny of these industries." Over a period of time some €1.2 billion has been spent on these two industries. It must be acknowledged that the Irish horse is renowned all over the word. We have a culture and identity associated with it.

As Deputy Penrose mentioned, the Irish sugar beet industry is trying to get off the ground at the moment. That industry may look for help and investment from the State. If in ten years we heard a statement saying it had received €1 billion we would ask what in the name of God is wrong with these people who cannot get a self-sufficient industry going. There is an element of that here. There are two different sets of standards. We have all had representations from people representing harness racing. That sport is trying to get of the ground and its advocates are looking for relatively small amounts of money to get a fledgling industry going in a particular sector. They are finding it very difficult. They have submitted reports and they have been referred here, there and everywhere. At the end of the day, nobody sits down and works out a solution with them. They have drawn up a plan which shows serious sustainability and where the industry can go, and yet they are not getting fair winds. That is certainly my experience, and I think it would be the experience of most members. That is what we are hearing from that group.

However, the multi-million euro horse racing industry continues to get a lot of support from the State. I do not make a judgment on the rights or wrongs of that, but I do judge the sense that this will be continued indefinitely. Representatives of the Department were before the committee earlier to talk about the areas of natural constraints. These are not areas of natural constraints. Farmers in County Tipperary say they cannot buy land. They cannot compete with the big stud farms that come in and buy land from everyone. I am not saying the market is wrong. The market does what it does. However, at some point or other the State must ask if there is a plan for this industry to become self-sustaining. If it cannot become self-sustaining, what areas of the industry require investment to become self-sustaining? If there are areas of it that will need ongoing investment, where are they specifically?

I have a problem with writing out a big check, handing it to Horse Racing Ireland and telling that body to spend it how it likes. That is the problem that we all have. There needs to be a wake-up call. I know I have spoken about this before and I have complained about it. I do not say it to beat anyone up. I recognise that this industry employs a lot of people. However, I do have a problem, as I think most honest taxpayers do, with seeing very well-fed sectors getting more and others getting less. We need to bring a sense of balance back into it.

I know the Greyhound Racing Bill 2018 is progressing.

The greyhound industry has many critics and a lot of problems and we hope this new legislation will deal with some of them. I do not think it matters what legislation we put in place. If people are out to do the wrong thing they will do the wrong thing. A culture of that nature has developed and I do not know it can be changed. A very firm hand and a long rod will be needed to get it back into shape. I ask the Minister to reflect on that and to consider where this is going in the long term. In ten years time, €2.5 billion or €3 billion may have been spent on these industries and it is not sustainable to continue in this manner. Some effort has to be made to take a grip of it. Some elements of the industry need support and we should support them but we should not be handing out a cheque to an organisation only for it to come back and tell us how it spent the money.

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