Mr. Bernard Caldwell:

I thank the committee for having the Irish Stable Staff Association here. Although we are on the board of HRI, I will speak on the area of racing we know better. The Irish Stable Staff Association was originally formed in 1970 and became part of the HRI board when it was established in 2001. This was a major step forward for our organisation. It is proposed in the heads of the Bill that we would be asked to share the seat on the board with two or three other groups, such as the jockeys. We represent approximately 4,000 people in the industry over the Thirty-two Counties and are the biggest group representing anybody in the industry. Therefore, our function is significant.

Our seat on the board is very important to us and has made major changes to our organisation. It has helped us get more recognition from all parts of the industry. In the past, stable staff were not treated well by many people. We have changed this and would like to continue this progress to ensure our members receive equal payment and status in racing. Losing our seat or a part of it would destroy our organisation completely. There are organisations on the board which will retain up to three seats. Their seats could be reduced to two in order that we be given our own seat. The average income of our members is very low, around the industrial wage. Our members earn €9.72 per hour. If we lose our seat and our powers we will not able to fight to keep that income level up, which we need to do.

Horse racing should be funded totally from the betting tax. We would like the betting tax to increase from 1% to 3%. The Government should not have to fund horse racing. Horse racing has suffered over the past six years and the contribution to the horse and greyhound fund has reduced from approximately €70 million to approximately 48% this year. This affects our members' salaries. Part of their salaries are derived from pool money, which is 0.3% of the owners' share when they win a race. This can be a significant amount to many staff around the country. However, with the reduction in the contribution to horse racing, pool money had decreased drastically in recent years.

We would like to see if the betting tax could be introduced. Somebody is not doing his or her job properly. Years ago, betting tax was at 20%, it decreased to 5% and then it was abolished. Bringing it to 3% should not be a major problem. We would like racecourse facilities to be improved, and the only way it will happen is through the extra money we could get from the betting tax. Our staff might leave home at 7 a.m. and return at 11 p.m. or midnight, and they need to be treated properly. Without a seat on the board, as proposed in the heads of Bill, we would not be able to fight our corner.

We are on several committees, and I am on approximately five or six committees, and we therefore have great insight into what is happening in racing. We are fully behind the Indecon report and can see all the benefits it will have. There is a divide in racing between the turf club and HRI, and it must be removed. The Bill was first introduced two years ago in Galway and has moved very slowly, to say the least. We need to move on. Racing has become one of the worst supported sports in the country. Soccer, Gaelic games and snooker get far more coverage on television.

We have to fight to get something like 24 days of racing coverage on RTE, which is a bit of a disaster. As previous speakers said, the racing industry is the backbone of the Irish countryside. No matter where one goes in countryside in Ireland, one will see horses. Those horses need minding and our staff do much of that minding. We need people to understand that our 4,000 staff are extremely important to the industry. They look after very valuable horses and work long hours. It would be a major setback to remove the seat on the board held by our organisation. I urge the members to give strong consideration to our role and I hope our organisation can have a full seat on the board of Horse Racing Ireland in future years. I thank the members for inviting us here this morning and if they have any questions we will try to answer them.