Mr. Brian Kavanagh:

We wrote to the Minister. It is a major project. The Deputy asked what kept me awake at night. It is not Kilbeggan racecourse. The development at the Curragh represents a great opportunity. I would not describe the shareholders as private developers. They are people who have been investing in our business for over 30 years. Most of them are from overseas and have put a lot of people in high-quality jobs via their operations in Ireland. They have got behind the current project.

The reason there is a tripartite arrangement is there was a previous attempt to develop the Curragh racecourse before the Celtic tiger era. Thankfully, it failed, if that does not sound stupid, because it would have been a white elephant. It was typical of what was planned at the time. While certain moneys were lost, including by the owners of the Curragh racecourse at the time, no State money was lost in the project. That was down to the ethos we pursued in capital development programmes.

I am sure the Deputy is familiar with the Curragh racecourse. I do not know if she was in the room for my earlier remarks, but in the past 20 years less than 5% of the capital investment in racecourses has gone into our primary racecourse. It is not a good showpiece for the industry. When I attend a match in the Aviva Stadium or Croke Park, I am proud of these venues. The Curragh is the track that receives the most overseas visitors and we want to show off to them. We set up a company with a three-way split. The Turf Club which owned the site did not have the funds to develop it and agreed to put the asset into a new company. On behalf of the State, we agreed to provide funding for the redevelopment of the site. We sought and are still seeking private investment in the company. We generated €32 million in private investment quite quickly, money the State will not have to put in.

I do not think it is correct to refer to private developers. I am very conscious of the points the Deputy is making about the mixture involved, of which we need to be mindful. I stand over the organisation's track record in terms of the previous development and what happened at Punchestown and Fairyhouse which we were able to rescue from the brink of financial difficulties. We need to apply the same thinking to the Curragh racecourse. We took serious cognisance of this and were conditioned by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to participate in the company. In order to participate in it, as a State body, we required ministerial approval from the two Departments, which we sought and received, subject to a number of conditions, with which we have complied. We evaluated our investment in the company through an independent evaluation process which was chaired by and involved three external parties which comprised someone from Deloitte, the chairman of our audit committee and a retired staff member. They put the process through the ringer, brought it to the board and recommended that the investment proceed, subject to the Curragh company satisfying nine conditions, all of which have been satisfied. It is a very complex project which has been chaired by Mr. Padraig McManus who is involved on a voluntary basis. While it is very exciting, it needs to be watched carefully.