Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That meeting will be a useful exercise. I share Deputy Catherine Murphy's concerns that the racing authority and regulatory board seem to have an intertwined relationship. I am not sure that that is necessarily healthy. This is not to cast aspersions or undermine the successes that the Deputy and others have mentioned. I would like to be associated with the words of congratulation to Ms Rachael Blackmore. My only regret is that I did not back her, but that is just the way things go.

I will refer specifically to correspondence No. 423B from HRI, which contained responses to questions that we raised. Sometimes, people infer that when committees like ours question how public money is spent, we are attacking the principle of supporting the horse racing sector. This sector provides a valuable contribution to our rural economy but could it do more for more people?

Members will recall when we had Horse Racing Ireland before the committee and I questioned its decision, which essentially ensures that the State funding or the taxpayers' money that is invested is redistributed through prize money. In the year in that we are discussing, which this correspondence deals with, the State's contribution to HRI was €67 million and the prize money awarded that year was €66 million but when I put it to HRI that this was consolidating a small number of top trainers in particular, it disputed that and argued that the money had trickled down, so that was trickle-down economics at its best, and that much more outside of.the official figures went to breeders across the country. In this response, it shows that of that prize money of €66 million, a sum of €385,000 went to breeders. Clearly, it is not the case that breeders, particularly smaller breeders, get a substantial part of the funding. Clearly, there are some sectors within the horse racing family that are less profitable or benefit less than others. The point-to-point racing sector, which we correctly hear is the breeding ground for future successes, received circa €900,000 per annum but, again, that is from a prize fund of €66 million in 2019. Consequently, I propose that we write to HRI. I also propose that we write to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to ask it whether it is satisfied that the prize money and prize fund distribution are the best way to redistribute State funds to have the maximum beneficial impact on rural economies and on the future growth of the sector. We should ask the Department whether, in its view the prize money and prize fund distribution are the best way to ensure that as many people as possible receive a benefit and that as many communities as possible receive an economic benefit from the substantial State contribution that is invested in the sector. That is my formal proposal.