Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage
10:00 am
Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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The people on this subcommittee will be from the services within the horse racing industry or people associated with the horse racing industry, so they are supportive of this sector. The Minister mentioned jockeys and persons other than stable staff employed in the racing industry. That is not a problem, but the size of that constituency should be determined by the sector itself. If Horse Racing Ireland decided to limit it, it has the power to do so. There is nothing here to prevent it from limiting the services sector and the services sector is bigger than jockeys and stable staff. There are people who are providing services to racehorse owners and who are members of trade unions. There are trade unions associated with it. All of this can be blocked, unless it is left to the sector itself to determine it. I am quite certain that any sector within Horse Racing Ireland will have the greater good of the industry, from its position, in mind.