Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

My view is that it must be addressed. There has been an enormous growth in the level of offshore, telephone and Internet betting. I have just highlighted that the fundamental difficulty is many of the companies are not based in Ireland and as a taxing authority we do not have the ability to tax in another jurisdiction. That being said, other ways and means are being reviewed as to how we may address this. As I said before, I thought it was in the industry's interest to work with us in coming up with a solution as to what would be a reasonable percentage to the Exchequer, which would comfortably fund the horse-racing industry.

All who work in or are involved in the horse-racing industry, big and small, have a vested interest in seeing this matter resolved. The industry accepts that the Exchequer is no longer going to fund or make up any shortfalls from now. If we are going to have a fund for the next five years, it has to come from the resources that are being gambled within the industry, to replenish that fund on an annual basis.

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