Mr. Brian Kavanagh:

Brexit is a huge concern for our industry. I do not think anyone really knows where it is going or what the outcome will be. Our position and that of the British industry are quite well aligned. The two countries have effectively operated as one industry for a number of years. We operate a single stud book so while foals in Ireland and foals born in Great Britain carry different suffixes after their name, they are in the one stud book. As we will see next week, Irish and British trainers, jockeys and horses travel over and back on a daily basis. A hard Brexit will have very serious implications for our sector. We are concerned that we would end up being collateral damage in a situation that may be slightly out of our control. I mentioned earlier that the value of our bloodstock exports is €225 million, which is a significant figure by any stretch. A total of 80% of those exports are to the UK so that is what is at stake for our sector. As I mentioned in my introduction, the situation is further complicated by the fact that we have always operated on an all-island basis.

Two of the racecourses in Northern Ireland, which are under our jurisdiction and get funding from us as well as being under the Turf Club's rules, could be outside the EU after Brexit. All trainers in the North are licensed by the Turf Club, 90% of the runners are trained in the Republic and horses move, for racing or breeding purposes, on a daily basis across the Border. The departments of agriculture in Britain, France and Ireland have a tripartite agreement that deals with the free movement of thoroughbred horses around the three countries and Brexit could affect that by significantly increasing the level of bureaucracy and administration in this area. One of our leading trainers told us he had a nervous horse who was running at Cheltenham last year. To calm his nerves, the horse has a goat for a companion who stays in the stable with him. The trainer told us of the difficulty he had in getting clearance for the goat to travel to Cheltenham with the horse and that the number of forms he had to fill out was frightening. If that is advanced to horses it would be a horror story for us.

While the two industries are complementary we are also in competition. In worldwide investment terms, there is a danger Britain will be freed to bring in measures to make the sector more competitive. If tariffs were introduced for the movement of bloodstock between Ireland and Britain it would create a difficulty, as would tariffs on the movement of labour because many staff in the industry in Britain are Irish. We had a lot of success in Britain last year with 171 Irish horses running and winning a lot of prize money. There are media rights deals whereby we sell pictures of Irish racing to the betting industry in Britain and worldwide and the income from those goes to racecourses. It has been in euro up to now but will switch to sterling in 2019 and there is a risk that the lower rate of sterling will affect that.

These things are all what-ifs and there may also be opportunities, although it is hard to see them. The British racing authorities see the importance of Ireland to them and 75% of Saturday runners in Britain are Irish-bred or French-bred. They will have an issue filling their race programme and providing enough runners for people to bet, which is vital because betting is the basis of the British industry model. The board discussed Brexit yesterday and we will try to commission some work to look at the overall implications. Our main concern is that our voice gets heard, as part of the agricultural lobby and in Europe.

The development of racecourses is taking place around the country and is one of the most exciting things that is happening at the moment. There is a big development at the Curragh at the moment but over the past 25 years less than 5% of funding for racecourse capital development has gone to the Curragh and it has always been waiting for a big development. We introduced a new capital development scheme two years ago in which we were to provide 40% funding if racecourses provided the other 60%. The response has been fantastic and 24 of the 26 race tracks have taken up the option. We are working through evaluations and funding proposals for those. The regional race tracks have shown the most agility in applying for this and whenever I am asked by a person from overseas where to go racing I always suggest Ballinrobe, Killarney, Bellewstown or Kilbeggan because that is where the real flavour of racing is. I do not see a contest between big tracks and small tracks as they are all part of the racing sector and I have very few sleepless nights about the business models of small, regional racecourses. They have the ability to get people through the gate and have huge local support. They have media rights income and most of them race only in summer, relieving them of the cost of keeping staff throughout the winter.