Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thoroughbred racing, as with greyhound racing, revolves around the breeding, training and owning of thoroughbreds. The fulcrum of that is racing. In order to compete internationally and maintain the position we have whereby, for a small country, we can compete with any of the larger countries, having top-quality racing is really important. The approach taken is, apart from the horse racing sector, 20% goes into integrity and welfare, which are massively important because the whole sector is underpinned by both. As to how that funding is distributed, it is spent on high-value races and low-value races right across the board and on all grades and types of horses. This is to ensure that there is the opportunity for all types of horses, trainers, owners and jockeys to benefit from the income from those races. That is really important in the context of driving the sector forward and keeping us in a position whereby we are competitive internationally. The HRI contribution to prize money is €41.5 million.