Mr. Brian Kavanagh:

I think the industry is coming out of a very difficult few years. The figures for the national hunt runners are right, obviously. It quite interesting. At the middle of last year, all our national hunt indicators were down - horses in training, entries and runners. There was such an uplift in the second half of the year that it overcame the problems of the first half and the overall figures for the year were up. About a year or 18 months ago we saw a lift on the flat. Perhaps that is because there is a quicker turnaround; a horse runs as a two-year-old on the flat, so as the foal crops started to rise again, more were coming into the system, whereas the national hunt runners do not run until they are four or five and the depressed foal crops of four or five years ago were hitting that. I am please to say that those national hunt statistics have continued on into the first two months of this year. That is healthy and we are even getting back to the stage where some people are complaining about being balloted out or taken out of a race. That is an encouraging trend.

On the issue of the betting ring, I fully endorse everything the Deputy has said. The HRI board is very concerned about the long-term future of the betting ring. It is a big problem. Turnover from course bookmakers has fallen away significantly. Technology has caused that. We are seeing growth in attendance at race meetings mainly at the big festival meetings and the summer race meetings. As the Deputy says, it is very hard to get people to go to the winter Thursdays. There is so much racing and sport on TV now.

Years ago, people went to the racecourse because it was the place they could get the most money if they wanted to have a bet, a bookmaker would stand a decent bet to them, they got information on a racecourse that they could not get from sitting at home, and they could see the race. Now the position is almost exactly the reverse. I can sit on my couch and watch the race. I am inundated with information online from racing posts and all sorts of other publications. I can get the best odds on my mobile phone. It is a huge challenge.

The board, led in particular by the chairman, took the decision last year to reduce the charges that on-course bookmakers are charged from 0.5% of turnover to 0.25% of turnover. We would like to see the charges eliminated altogether. That money goes to the racecourses On-course bookmakers pay racecourses five times the admission fee whether they attend or not. That needs to be looked at. It is a very high cost for bookmakers in a falling turnover environment. If we were to lose the on-course bookmakers, Irish racing would lose some of its soul. The members may have raced in countries like France or the United States, which operate tote monopolies. It is a lesser experience than racing here or in Britain, I believe.

With regard to betting tax, the Irish rate is the lowest of any major racing jurisdiction in the world at 1% of turnover. It is significantly lower than the rate of tax in the UK. When the horse and greyhound racing fund was established, the intention was that it would be fully funded by betting tax. Betting tax was reduced progressively in 2001, from 5% to 2%, and in 2007 from 2% paid by the punter to 1% paid by the bookmaker. We believe that was wrong. The intention at the time was to protect small bookmakers' shops in the high street that have to compete with the multiples that were mentioned. That is really the same as in any business. Bigger firms are going to compete, whether it is on tax or on marketing spend or whatever. We believe the rate of betting tax should go up to at least 2% or 2.5%. That could fully fund the horse and greyhound racing fund at a higher level than is currently the case. Members should bear in mind that the funding that goes into the horse and greyhound racing fund is still only at the level it was at ten years ago. In order to develop the industry and look after the key challenges which I outlined in my introduction, we need more money.

We need to invest significantly in the Irish Equine Centre. It has been built by various fundraising efforts and has lived on a wing and a prayer down through the years. It is vital. If there is one thing that will affect our industry more than Brexit or anything else, it is an outbreak of disease. The way the climate has gone, diseases that were previously foreign to Ireland are now becoming more common here. African horse sickness is a particular example. There is a need for investment in that whole area.

There is a significant need for investment in education, training and employment, staff retention, and in racecourse facilities and in prize money. We believe that the Government should not be supplementing the betting tax with money out of central Exchequer funds. The betting tax rate should be high enough to fund horse racing and greyhound racing off its own bat. I am not just saying that from a horse racing point of view but also from a rural Ireland point of view. If we look at what is in the media these days about the decline of rural Ireland, this industry can play a significant part in arresting that decline.

Alan Dukes did a study some years ago on behalf of the breeders' association, in which he spoke about the clustering of employment in rural areas. He examined four towns in rural Ireland representative of the regional spread of the sector: Bagenalstown, Enniscorthy, Navan and Fermoy. They did a survey of the full-time employment equivalents in those areas. Bagenalstown had 428 full-time equivalent jobs in our sector. Enniscorthy had 259, Navan had 324 and Fermoy had 162. When people think of racing they think of the sport of kings, horses racing for prize money, but behind that is a whole network of services. Taking Bagenalstown as an example, that would include the training yards of Willie Mullins and Jim Bolger, and Red Mills horse feed, which employs 150 people in a state-of-the-art plant in Goresbridge and is exporting all around the world. It would include all the local trainers, veterinary practices, farriers, suppliers and all those services. If we are looking at clustering and increasing employment in rural Ireland, this sector is made for it.

The Deputy mentioned his own constituency. I am not going to get involved in refereeing between Thurles and Kilbeggan as to who should get more funding. The Deputy makes a fair point about the tracks that race during the winter having particular needs relative to summer racecourses.

I do not think we can get into a different rate of grant for one track over the other. We apply it across the board. The rate of our capital grant funding to the likes of the track in Sligo is the same as for the track in Punchestown.

However, for tracks such as those mentioned, we have provided funding for other areas that are not as relevant for the summer tracks, including track drainage and so on. We have put schemes in place.

Reference was made to the facilities in some of these tracks. In the first instance we do not want to push racecourses into a situation where they are over-stretched. Thurles, Clonmel and Tipperary are three important tracks in the Deputy's region. Two of them operate during the winter. The facilities could be better. Clonmel is in the system. Those responsible have applied for grants and they are being evaluated.

The situation in Thurles is different. It is the only racecourse in the country that is privately owned. By that I mean it is not owned by a company, trust or charitable society. It is a family farm and there are issues around that. However, without courses such as those in Thurles and Clonmel we would not have winter racing. Thurles was jokingly described as Ireland's first all-weather racecourse. It has a history of racing at times when no other turf racecourse in Ireland or Britain was able to be raced. This is because of the unique soil. We try to help that area as much as possible.

Reference was made to the point-to-point sector. We increased our funding for the sector this year by €728,000 up to €2.2 million. That has been well received. The point-to-point sector suffered badly during the recession. Numbers at all levels were affected in terms of horses with hunter certificates, runners, race meetings, attendances and betting.

Having said that, point-to-point racing is a source of a considerable number of the successful national hunt horses we have produced in the country. Young horses can be tried and can gain experience at these meetings before they go on to race. It has also developed into an important shop window. Many British buyers and, increasingly, Irish buyers will buy a horse there. Many people are buying young horses to run them in a point-to-point race in the hope of winning and getting a good return from one of the bigger trainers who would be prepared to buy a winning horse. Everyone catches the headlines of the one horse that makes the big money. However, to some extent, those dealers have probably bought ten or 20 horses. They need one of them to click to be able to generate a yield.

Point-to-point racing is the soul of Irish national hunt racing. We have increased our funding in three areas. We have increased the prize money for point-to-point meetings. We have increased the grants to the hunts that are staging point-to-point meetings. We have provided funding to ensure that properly trained medical officers attend every point-to-point meeting. They are fully trained to deal with serious accidents and injuries. Those involved in the hunts put in extraordinary work and volunteer time and they need help. Fortunately, we were able to do provide it this year.

This is reflected at grass roots level. Some of our best jockeys have come out of that field, including Davy Russell, Ruby Walsh and Norman Williamson. We have seen some wonderful jockeys down through the years. Those racing at the moment such as Jamie Codd and Derek O'Connor are as good as most professionals in the UK. We are keen to support and encourage the sector.

Deputy Cahill referred to the British handicapper - no comment.