Mr. Chris Byrne:

I agree with everything Mr. Madden said. I go back to Senator Daly's comment about, if there were a pot of money, where it could be directed. I have to declare a certain interest in this insofar as I have been chair of three LEADER companies over a 15-year period. I see no reason funds could not be directed towards the equine industry through the rural development programme and ring-fenced towards specific infrastructural development. Such companies have all the mechanisms, they understand corporate governance and they are well used to being audited by third-party organisations. If that were done in the interim to get funding rolling into the industry, when HSI's future is rectified, then maybe funding could be channelled through it on a similar basis as rural development. We should not be devoid of investment or an opportunity for capital development simply on the basis that there is no conduit we have confidence in.