Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

On the question of savings, the first thing is that we are providing for a framework. When we have concluded this process, in all its complexity, and we have come up with a Bill that will hopefully provide a framework for things to work better, people will still have to work together and get into the detail of operating and administering horse racing. I just want to make that point. This Bill does not answer all the questions.

On the issue of streamlining, I am reading a piece from Smith & Williamson. It discusses shared IT services, a single income stream, and a shared registration system. It discusses a joint payroll and HR function. There is a list of areas here where Smith & Williamson recommended that there should be streamlining. We are not providing for all these things in the legislation, but we are providing for a single income stream, which will be a contributor to this overall effort. If one has two buildings and two administrative systems located a mile and a half from each other on the Curragh, it is self-evident that if one streamlines those in some way and if one provides for a single accounts system, IT system and HR system, there will be savings. Those savings will accrue to the industry because none of the parties in this are in it for themselves. None of these bodies are profit-making, so any financial benefits to HRI and the Turf Club, one can reasonably assume, will ultimately be felt by participants in the industry. I do not think there is any doubt, and while I might have difficulty in quantifying precisely the savings that will accrue from the streamlining, it is self-evident that there will be savings.

These are issues to be managed between HRI and the RRB following this legislation. It will be a good thing, because there is uncertainty about this at the moment. It seems that when we have got through this process, when the legislation is on the Statute Book, people will still have a job to do. They will still have to engage in the best interests of horse-racing, and I expect that they will do that.