Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister and his officials for coming in. I commend them on their work in this area.

Like most people from rural Ireland I am an enthusiastic supporter of horse racing. I greatly value its role in Ireland and it is important that it be funded. We have a unique relationship with the horse in Ireland. Nothing epitomised that more recently than Shark Hanlon's success in the US with Hewick winning the US Grand National, which has a prize fund of $110,000. He bought the horse here for €850. When he was interviewed in America he dedicated the win to the de Bromhead family in Ireland. That shows the very close-knit community and shows families and communities are at the very heart of racing. It continually shows us in the best possible light on the world stage. Many people find fault with the fund on the basis they are vehemently opposed to either horse or greyhound racing but ultimately we must see the value both sectors deliver to Ireland. The Department, especially in recent years, has done significant work on accountability within the two sectors. I am not saying that is a piece of work that is by any means finished but there has been laudable progress in that respect to date. The Minister and his officials are going to get this annually when they come in. I hope he is back next to deliver us the news on the fund as well.

It is probably for himself and the officials to decide whether we look for a value-for-money report on this. I appreciate that if we look at the horse racing, we are nearly giving €73 million to the industry, which is approximately €1.5 million per week. The Deloitte report said the sector was worth €1.8 billion in 2016. The officials might be able to tell me whether that included stallion cover fees or just racing specifically. They can come back to me on that. By my back-of-a-fag-packet calculations, that looks like a return of 5%, which would not be bad if someone got it from a bank at the moment. It is probably not a bad return on the investment we put into racing but it would be good to see a more contemporary study than Deloitte's 2016 figures.

As I said, Shark Hanlon showed there is cross-community, cross-society and cross-class dimension to horse racing. Many people who do not understand the industry take it as an elitist sport, which is certainly not the case. At the same time, while I was listening to the debate, I took at look at the Irish thoroughbred marketing website. A quote is not given for all stallions standing at in excess of €30,000 and are high value, like the ones in County Tipperary. A customer must get the price on inquiry. Lope de Vega is worth €125,000 down to Camelot in Coolmore for €75,000. Taking eight of the top stallions at €50,000 a cover, that is €400,000. Average 30 covers per stallion a year means those stallions alone that is €12 million. There is, therefore, a huge volume of money within the sector. I appreciate we get something back to the Exchequer from that but the challenge for us and to racing generally is that this is not a continuous well. Unless we choose to turn a blind eye to it we cannot ignore this is a lavishly rich sport in certain areas. Granted, at the other extreme on that website, there are several stallions for much lower fees. There are even seven for less than €1,000. They are the ones that will probably be going in County Longford.

That gives an overview. While I welcome the funding, it behoves us to also challenge it to see if we are getting value for money and ask what the industry is to do. A time will come, or there will be a change of heart in a Government, such that somebody puts their hands up and says the State is not going to fund this sector anymore. Has the sector got a fallback plan for a situation like that? I appreciate that was more a soliloquy than a series of questions but the main question is whether the Deloitte report included stallion cover fees.