Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The public expects that when big revenue comes in, for example, in Croke Park, then that would fund what happens around the country in, say, Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, County Galway, but the opposite seems to happen in the horse racing industry.

I accept that there is a bigger pie than there used to be but the HRI used to get 7%. As I understand it, the HRI negotiated a fee or fixture charge, which is well in excess of what the market value of the data rights would be if one were to sell them. Money got off the likes of the Sports Information Services, SIS, in one area means less money for the other area. Am I correct that HRI has negotiated a bigger part of the pie for itself by using the fixture-charge approach? In fact, the HRI gets about 16% of the total pie instead of 7% in the past. Even if it is a bigger pie, as has been pointed out, the smaller racecourses get less as a proportion which, in turn, puts pressure on them to match funding for development and they feel a chilling effect. Some of them feel that if they complain about this, then HRI is the entity that decides whether they will get the capital money they might come looking for. Is that not the case?