Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 23 March 2021

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:30 am

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The context is that just short of €80 million, which comes from the gambling tax, goes to HRI. It must be acknowledged that this is an extremely valuable sector. A week is a long time in politics. Compare how negative the situation was a few weeks ago with how positive it was last week. All credit goes to Ms Rachael Blackmore for lifting many people's spirits.

We are discussing the integrity fund. We need to protect that investment and the large number of people working in this sector. The sector must be above reproach, and the money for CCTV at stables is meant for that purpose. Even though the funding was allocated in 2018, CCTV had only been installed at the stables of only one racecourse when we met HRI this year. There is still confusion about what the expectation was exactly when the money was allocated. When will every racecourse be fully covered by CCTV?

I am uneasy with the crossover between the two boards. Three people from the regulatory board are on the board of HRI. I am concerned about the lack of separation and whether that was done by design. It is important that we have clarity about this aspect.

The situation with the allocation is not clear. As the Chairman stated, the money has gone back and forth before being diverted. Installing CCTV at 26 racecourses is not an onerous project and I do not know why it has not been done. I do not believe that all of the €9.1 million allocation was intended for CCTV - it would be expensive CCTV if it was - but I remain unclear as to how much of that money was intended for CCTV, how many racecourses were to be covered by it and what the programme was. We must have clarity on this. Having some of the other information that was provided in the correspondence is useful, but we have concerns about this matter in particular.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.