Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I have some sympathy for the issue raised by Deputy Ferris, but there has to be a contingency here. If, for example, there were multiple representative bodies and they could not agree, what would happen? Somebody needs to put together a constituency and a mechanism for electing or nominating members of this committee. The idea of the industry services committee is to identify and improve the requirements of those employed in the industry and represent the interests of such workers. I was very insistent that we would have a services committee like this, because there are about 14,000 people working in the racing industry in Ireland. Many of them work incredibly hard and we need to make sure their interests are part of our thinking and of HRI's thinking. The membership of this committee does not have to comprise HRI members. This involves people working in the industry, including jockeys, qualified riders, stable staff, and so on. My concern is that if we do not state that HRI shall determine the constituencies and method of election of members of the industry services committee, then who determines it?