Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials. As required, I put on record that I have a racehorse in training, which I bred myself, so I am an owner and a breeder. I am a director and former chairman of Kilbeggan Race Company Limited. It will be no shock to anybody that I welcome the fund.

There is a lot of debate about this fund annually. It has to come before us annually and that triggers the debate. This year, more than any, the fund has been under the spotlight because of the study done by the Football Association of Ireland and the comparison being made between its funding and the betting tax. I ask the Minister for clarification that this fund is not directly related in any way to the betting tax, as was inferred. While many people make that correlation, it is correct to say there is absolutely no correlation between the two. The take from the betting tax and the spend on the horse and greyhound fund are similar-sized sums, but I seek clarification to clear up the point that this fund is not paid from the betting tax.

I will make another comparison. As I said, as a director of a small rural racetrack, we have to do a lot of development, as do all racetracks, to maintain our animal welfare standards, in particular. For example, in our situation in the past couple of years, we had to upgrade stabling, rubberise the ground in the parade ring, and put in a watering system to keep the ground safe, again, from an animal welfare point of view. We also had to install CCTV, as has been mentioned at committee meetings. When we are mandated to do that, it is a mandate. We cannot apply for sports capital funding. That is why it is the Minister for agriculture who is present. Horse racing and greyhound racing come under the Department of agriculture. Again, to make the comparison with special funding, it almost looks like racing and greyhound racing, which are industries as much as sports, are getting this special treatment. Some €150 million was given out last year in sports capital funding but Kilbeggan Races could not apply for one penny of that. We depend on grants from HRI to part fund all those developments, which we have to do or we will not get our racing licence. This fund is used by HRI to part fund all our capital developments. That is akin to the sports capital grant application that is available to other sporting bodies. It is important that is said too. A myth is out there that all this money goes towards prize money, but it filters down to rural tracks through grants and capital grant allocations.

On that note of it filtering down, what input does the Minister and his Department officials have on where the money is spent? I would like to see, and many people have contacted me about this, some way that some portion of this money could be used as an incentive scheme for small breeders. Racing is like soccer. Everybody talks about the premiership and the great international success we have. For the premiership to work, there have to be leagues one, two and three. There are people in racing who are in the equivalent of league three. Without them, there would be no premiership, but they are struggling. It costs as much to have a horse that is competing at the lower level as it does to have one that can be successful and go to the top. Many breeders out there cannot afford to go to the big stallions and are struggling. We saw the sales figures last week. Many a foal was sold for less than the cover for the stallion cost. We could lose those small breeders with one or two mares, in particular, farmers who might just have one or two horses running with their cattle. If they cannot get some support, we will start losing them. As I said, to use the premiership analogy, if we start losing the lower divisions, it will eventually filter through and while we may not lose the top, it will not be as strong as it is currently.

The Minister said it all in his statement regarding the number of jobs, and the amount of financial spend through tourism and people attending racing. We are getting a very good return for this investment. The old saying is "You have to speculate to accumulate". The big plus from this fund is that the majority, if not practically all, of the money is going into rural areas, where there are not that many other opportunities for jobs. The racing industry creates a lot of jobs. Be they stable staff, trainers, trainers' assistants or farriers, it is keeping many small, local, rural merchants going through feed, whether it is haylage or whatever. It is money going into an area where there are not too many other opportunities. For that reason, it has to be very welcome.

I compliment HRI and Rásaíocht Con Éireann on the work they have done to date with this money from an animal welfare and integrity point of view.

I stress, to paraphrase a former leader of our party, that a lot is done, but there is a lot more to be done. We need to keep our finger on the pulse of animal welfare and integrity. As I say, a lot has been done. There have been many improvements in the last few years. I know the Minister and Department have put stipulations on the two organisations to improve their lot in that area. It is an area in which we can never take our eye off the ball. I stress that the Minister and the Department need to closely monitor that and that, every year, a certain proportion of the money needs to be directed towards animal welfare and integrity.