Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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Senator Daly mentioned the industry’s reputation and this is not doing it any good. Everything is not rosy in the industry. Many trainers are exiting the business saying they cannot make ends meet. Deputy Penrose made the point about a value for money review. Surely that would have been a critical thing for the board to have done when a CEO is starting his third term to see whether we were getting value for the public money being spent. I am hearing many things for the first time tonight. How did the board evaluate the CEO’s performance and how the €59 million was spent before starting his third term? We are entitled to know that. The Minister has said there were reasons for the feeling that he was indispensable. No one is indispensable although I accept that reasons were given to the Minister.

At the lowest level of the industry people are struggling and significant trainers have gone out of business in recent months and even one last week. How was the CEO's performance evaluated by the board? To say he is essential to the development of the Curragh racecourse is not enough. There is more to the industry than the Curragh.