Mr. Brian Kavanagh:

Yes. As I said earlier the horse and greyhound racing fund was originally set up to be fully funded from betting tax but the yield from betting tax has dropped. If one sets aside the needs of horse racing and greyhound racing, one must bear in mind that in 2001 in this country betting amounted to approximately €1.3 billion and the Exchequer got €68 million. Betting in this country last year amounted to approximately €5.5 billion and the Exchequer got €50 million from it. It only got that €50 million because the Government introduced legislation to capture tax from offshore betting in 2015, which is now yielding €20 million. It seems illogical that a sector that was generating tax of €1.1 billion 17 years ago has now increased fivefold and it is generating a lower yield.

In the very good report it published in January 2016, the committee said that it recognised that Ireland has the raw materials in terms of land, climate and knowledge to maintain a world class equine industry and to grow it in terms of employment. The committee believes there should be a national plan for the development of the industry and that the necessary extra funding required to implement it should be raised through increased revenue from the betting levy. The report went on in the specific recommendations to refer to increased funding being made available for the development of the thoroughbred sector by increasing the revenue derived from the betting duty. As I understand it, that issue will be addressed. The Government said the first thing it would do in relation to betting was look at the tax that was being avoided by offshore companies and that was addressed in 2015. It said once the system was up and running it would look at the rate of betting tax. Again, we can provide the committee with any assistance it requires in terms of our knowledge and experience of other countries. I feel there is cross-party support on this issue.