Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I do not know where to start because there is so much that I have to say. I am very disappointed that 12 years on we have the same disputes going on and the same troubles and rows. When I was Minister of State in 2012, we had troubles with passports and breeding. I recall appointing an independent chairman – I cannot remember his name but Mr. Freyne might remember it - to see if we could bring things together. At the time, we had the same rows with the Departments. The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are fighting over territory as well. It was mentioned that, at that time, Deputy Coveney was Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I was Minister of State with responsibility for sport. I wanted one Department or the other to take total control. There were rows within the Departments as they did not want to let that bit of power go. I set up Sport Ireland when I was Minister of State. I brought the legislation through the Dáil and appointed the chief executive.

I welcome the witnesses. I am directing my questions to whoever wants to answer them. I was very disappointed with our performance in the previous two Olympics; I am not going to pretend otherwise. People can wash it any way they want, but we are a country that breeds horses. We are known for our horses. We love horses. We understand horses. Yet, we saw sports in the Olympics and I do not know how they got there. The countries they came from were not able to bring home gold, silver or bronze medals. We are a country of horses and we did badly in the past two Olympics. We have done nothing about it. We have the finest horse riders in the country and we have the finest horses. Other countries such as Great Britain and Germany have horses that bred in Ireland and they win gold medals. What is wrong with our horses and riders that we cannot win a bronze, silver or gold medal at the Olympics? The games happen every four years. We should be able to do better. Something is wrong.

I want to take up a point that has been raised. A mother came to see me recently whose daughter's ambition is to be a horse rider. She is a young girl who lives in a town. The mother went to the trouble of talking to a local farmer who was prepared to give her a small bit of ground. He also had a little shed. He said if she got a little pony for her daughter he would deal with the insurance, but she could not get a pony because she did not have the resources. Lots of people are being left out of that game because of finances. It is a sport for rich men and women.

A point was made, correctly, about therapy for people with disabilities. I know children who got an opportunity in that regard in Connemara who progressed very well. I came across such places when I was Minister of State with responsibility for sport. Mention was made of the LEADER programme. When I was involved with the LEADER programme, funding was provided for therapies for people with disabilities. That should happen.

I want to speak about the RDS and, in particular, the recent Dublin Horse Show. I had the pleasure of being there for a day. I brought my daughter and granddaughter. We had a wonderful day. We went on the Thursday, not the Friday. I never enjoyed a day like it. I was not under any pressure. When I was Minister of State with responsibility for sport, I launched the show on many occasions when Tourism Ireland provided a lot of the funding for it. The people involved in it are decent.

I call on the Chair to bring in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We must do something about all the rows that are going on in horse racing and in the equestrian area. When that is going on in any sport, it explains where we are at in regard to the Olympics. We must do something about it.

Were any civil servants, county managers, or whatever else, among the board members appointed by the Minister? That is what has this country destroyed. Every board is being taken over by former county managers, former assistant secretaries and former civil servants. It is a case of giving jobs to the boys and girls. We are doing nothing about it. We have allowed it to happen. They will not appoint people who know something about it. They will not put a politician on a board because we know too much about everything. Politicians are not allowed to go on boards, yet we have every civil servant who does not know a horse from a bull. That is the truth. They are coming in then and telling the professionals and the people involved in the sport how to run it.

We must bring in the Department, once and for all. There is a power struggle between the Department and all the different groupings. We set up an agency to try and deal with that to ensure boards are representative of all. Instead of that, the Minister has four appointments, including one for Northern Ireland. He has total control. If anybody resigns, he can fill the position. The board is not democratically elected. It is a piecemeal board that does not represent anybody.

If people from the ground up are not involved in the GAA, soccer and rugby and who know something about the sport, there is no point in having them on the board. We must have people on the board who understand the profession. What can we do to bring everybody together? What can we do to set up a new board? What role does the Minister have? Which Minister is dealing with it now? When I was Minister of State with responsibility for sport, I could not appoint the chairman without going to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the board could not be appointed without coming to me. That is what goes on at Department level.

The groups represented here do not have representation on the board that is supposed to be representing them. Something must be done because the industry is the loser. It is a very important industry. Someone gave the figure that the industry is worth €1 billion to this country. Why would we let an industry like that fall apart? Why are we not doing something about it? I ask whoever wants to respond what we must do from today to try and correct what is wrong.