Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 April 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Harness Racing: Irish Harness Racing Association

Photo of Paul DalyPaul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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It would be remiss of me to let the opportunity pass without saying that my good friend and colleague from County Longford, Deputy Flaherty, would probably have more occasion to visit Jones' Road were its current usage to change to harness racing.

As the Chairman stated, this submission is comprehensive. To me, the request is a no-brainer. There are not many questions that can be asked when they are all answered in the submission. I do have a couple, though. Let us say that the IHRA has its licence. How would that operate? Would the IHRA set up a franchise that a company would operate? Would the IHRA set up its own tote or would it do that in collaboration with the French or another crowd? Tote Ireland is the existing tote operator and it has the licence. I can see how things might have gone when the IHRA applied to the Department for a licence or asked it about one. There has not been such an application in 80 or 90 years, so it is not as if applications are coming in every day of the week. There is no application form, process or procedure, and nothing puts civil servants into a tailspin as much as when they do not have a sheet for people to tick boxes on. Could Tote Ireland apply to expand its licence to include trotting and could the IHRA work with it on a dividend basis? Has this been considered? Is it an option or am I totally off the mark?