Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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We would like to think it would not have happened before, but it did, and that is why we are in this position.

We also need to recognise that there have been issues with documentation. The issue of passports has arisen here before. I am aware that our guests are not directly responsible in this regard but the governance needs to be tightened up with haste because it is a problem for people.

On the anti-doping regime, it is equally important that we have high standards and that those standards are seen to be met and worked on. Colleagues have mentioned that the State puts a very large amount of money into the horse racing industry. There is no other “sport” in Ireland that gets funding at anything like the same level. Government coffers are always tight and there are always issues. We have people on waiting lists to get appointments in hospitals and to get housing, and one of the things that keeps coming up is the absence of resources. The public sees a large amount of money going to an industry that, to most looking from the outside, is doing pretty well. If the Government and the Oireachtas as a body are to stand over that, they have to be certain of authenticity and that the bodies that provide funding and the regulatory bodies that govern all of this do so with absolute integrity. That is why it is so important that we get all this stuff right.

I acknowledge that it is not just the blood sports and horse racing that do very well out of this. There is the wider industry. The gambling industry also does very well, and that is why it is so important that we get all of this stuff right and be seen to hold the IHRB and other agencies involved in this industry to account for everything that has happened and is going on.

Of course, there are great success stories. The Irish horse industry is renowned throughout the world. We have had successful jockeys, including Robbie Dolan, the young man in Australia who won the Melbourne Cup the other day. We have great success stories that we need to acknowledge. However – I want to finish on this point as I am not here to ask questions and was late to the meeting – it is important that the board that governs the IHRB, and not just the guests present, and the boards that govern all the organisations that benefit from Government funding for the horse racing industry recognise that they have a huge responsibility to the public to ensure everything is done with complete integrity in the industry. There have been serious question marks in this regard. This is a message that the guests need to take with them. I will leave it at that.