Ms Sharon Byrne:

I will begin with Deputy Ó Cuív's questions. He asked about the turnover as between the online and retail businesses. It is difficult to know because online companies, apart from PLCs, have been so secretive about their business. I will extrapolate Paddy Power's published figures and its market share as an estimation. We are expecting a 1% tax collected on Irish business of €15 million to €20 million. That means €1.5 billion to €2 billion from Irish customers on sports betting online. The figures from our shops are €2.4 billion to €2.5 billion. They are almost on par and that figure is growing rapidly.

On the reason for the decline in our business, we currently have the lowest number of shops on record for the company that beams us our pictures. It was 850 shops 15 years ago. I received figures this week from the Department of Finance on the betting tax paid for the past 25 years in comparison to the rates. The number of shops we have in Ireland today is almost equal to what we had nearly 20 years ago. The recession accounts for some of it but the online element is a big factor. However, it is not all doom and gloom. The retail side could certainly compete a lot better if legislation allowed it. We are now operating in a computerised world. We have customers in our shops betting on their telephones or at home. If we had computers in our shops offering the new types of betting we could compete but the legislation dates back to 1931 and it prevents us from competing.

I have commended Deputy Martin Heydon. In fairness, this Government has introduced the evening opening all year round. We have been screaming for that for years. We are now allowed to open after 6.30 p.m. from September to April, whereas historically we have had to close. This is the first year and it is very welcome. About three years ago we were also able to get Dundalk to start racing throughout the winter and this has been a huge boost.

However, preventing us from competing with online operators and not allowing computer products into the shops makes it very difficult.

The reason I mentioned VAT is not that I think we should not be paying VAT, rather it was to highlight that the cost of racing with the addition of VAT is a real cost to us. Most businesses get VAT back although I do not think farmers do so. We cannot and so it is a real cost. The cost of racing at €3,000 to Horse Racing Ireland per shop plus VAT, is a real cost.