Dr. Kevin Smyth:

I think there are two separate issues here. First, the Deputy mentioned Covid. What happened with Covid, for both racing and greyhounds, was the closure of all tracks and courses, so there was immediately a loss of everything. The result was a financial catastrophe for many of these courses and tracks. They were losing money. There was an improvement when the limited racing was allowed back behind closed doors, but in areas such as greyhounds and hospitality there were huge losses, so the funding was justified from that point of view.

The second issue is that of prize money. About 60% of the money for HRI goes into prize money along with entry fees and sponsorship money as well. This is the best way it is seen to distribute money within the industry. I know there are those who would prefer a more egalitarian solution-----