Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Well, we will do our best, that is all I am saying. It depends on when the boss decides to call the election. I will happily participate in the legislation, although my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, makes most of the decisions on the greyhound industry. Changes are needed there and change is under way. Deputy Wallace has raised questions about this, as have many others. This is why we had an Indecon report and why we are making significant changes to the industry to put it on a proper financial footing again, so we can start to increase prize money to create incentives to breed and manage dogs appropriately. It is also why we have welfare legislation, to ensure it is done properly in the interests of the animals as well as the owners and the people involved.

Concerns have been raised about media rights negotiations. To speak plainly, in Ireland we have many racecourses in different parts of the country, and we need to find a way to support them all, which is what we are trying to do at present. Anyone who thinks that if racetracks independently negotiate media rights with media companies they will somehow get a better deal than if they use the power of collective negotiation does not understand how media rights negotiation actually works.

I have met the representatives of the Association of Irish Racecourses, AIR, and they are happy with the current approach. That is an organisation representing all the racecourses. The collective negotiation is to ensure we get the maximum value possible in media rights negotiations. We then need to ensure that whatever money is raised is spent appropriately among racetracks and in the industry as a whole. We should not forget that media rights are not just about location because they take in prize money, horses and the people who pay for the horses and bring them to the racetrack. It is about the public purse providing the prize money for the races. We are negotiating the entire package. The racetrack is an important part of that in terms of location and the racecourses do a fantastic job in running racing.

My job is to ensure we have a structure in place that allows us to maximise the income we can get for this sector, which includes racecourses, as well as for the industry as a whole in negotiating media rights. That is what we are trying to do. The distribution of that money will involve consultation with the chief executive officers of all the racetracks and we have committed to that. There will be an amendment on Committee Stage to take account of some of the concerns raised and the conversations that have taken place with AIR. We should wait and see what that is and I hope it will deal with people's concerns. We will not go backwards and say that racecourses will do their own thing. As a result, our capacity to negotiate better financial packages for media rights would potentially be undermined.

Deputy Daly and one or two others raised welfare issues, both in the thoroughbred sector and sports horse sector. I have spent much time and public money in the area and through microchipping, passports and an obligation for equine-registered premises as well as a very comprehensive and lengthy animal welfare Bill, we now have the tools to deal in a very comprehensive way with animal cruelty inflicted on horses and other animals. We intend to enforce those new rules through the legislation, and we are trying to do that. The number of seizures we had to make this year compared with last year or the year before has fallen dramatically. This year I will again provide approximately €2 million for local authorities to implement seizures and support programmes. We put a fund of €1 million in place for urban horse welfare support programmes this year, which is predominantly about trying to encourage the Travelling community to be part of projects with their horses that can put a structure around how and where horses are kept. I am committed to that and, as it happens, we will not be able to spend all the money because the projects have not materialised

Politically, getting agreement on such things is difficult although we are making some good progress outside Kilkenny. There are potential plans for outside of Cork and other towns and cities. I would like to see every city in Ireland have an urban horse project on the outskirts that could allow for Traveller teenagers to learn how to look after their horses properly. There is an incredibly strong bond between the Travelling community and their horses. I have met Travellers and spoken to them about this. We would like to facilitate that in a structured way that will look after the welfare of horses as well as respecting the traditional link between horses and the Travelling community. I am committed to that project, as I stated, but it will take time. This is not just about the Travelling community either, as I hope many others will be part of that project.

Deputy Naughten raised issues of horse breeding programmes, with dealers buying large numbers of horses with a view to selling them either to factories for meat under dubious identification or potentially selling them on at home or abroad because there would have been a market for that. The market collapsed very quickly following the horsemeat scandal and an awareness that the horse identification processes that were being implemented in Ireland were inadequate. We have addressed many of those issues and, as a result, the number of horses that need to be seized has fallen dramatically, although seizures are still required.

The breeding programmes in the sports horse sector and certainly in horse racing have adapted and reduced the numbers quite significantly. We have a strategy for the sports horse sector for the next ten years, Reaching New Heights. It is a very good document put together by Teagasc, the Royal Dublin Society and Horse Sport Ireland. We have implemented much of that strategy and put public money into it. It is about supporting welfare initiatives but, more important, more targeted and intelligent breeding of sport horses.

There is one comment I do not want to let go. Deputy Creighton rightly stated that the reputation and rating of Irish sports horses has reduced over the past ten to 15 years. That is perhaps the case for showjumping although we are now starting to make improvements in the area. Ireland is number one in the world for eventing in terms of breeding and we are staying there. Even through the difficult times of the past ten years or so we have managed to maintain that position.

I take the points from Deputy Daly about welfare but I am not sure this is the legislation to deal with some of those matters. We have had very comprehensive welfare legislation coming through the Houses. The focus will be on implementation and enforcement of that legislation to ensure people will not mistreat animals, whether they are racehorses, sports horses, dogs or whatever. There is very comprehensive legislation to deal with that.

I associate myself with the tributes to Mr. Pat Eddery. Even for people who are not knowledgeable about racing, he is a household name and a legend of the sport. I endorse all the warm tributes being paid to him.

I will make one or two more points before finishing. We recently announced a really exciting new development programme for the Curragh. It will be a €65 million investment programme over the next few years and we hope to have it finished by 2018. At least half the money for the project will come from private donors or investors. We have a new model that we created which is a partnership, with a third each coming from the Turf Club, Horse Racing Ireland and private donors. It will be a really successful and interesting business model, a public private partnership chaired by Mr. Padraig McManus who has done a really solid job on it. We will get this done. There will be a planning application done, if not before the end of the year then early in January. There will be proper consultation with all stakeholders before that happens, and I hope we can bring it through the planning process quickly in order that we can get to building what will be one of the most modern racing facilities anywhere on the planet, matching the best flat race racecourses anywhere in the world with regard to condition of the turf. People will be very proud of that every time they drive past in the Curragh and go to race meetings. If ever there was proof that the Government and the State wants to invest in and prioritise an industry and sport, it is evident in what we have seen in increased funding last year and again this year, facilitating projects like that in the Curragh and in many other capital investment projects for racing.

To be honest, I had not thought before about Deputy Spring's point but it seems reasonable on many levels. He has concerns about credit cards being used for betting, whether on racecourses or elsewhere. It seems reasonable to examine the sense of allowing people to use credit to bet. Again, it is for betting legislation rather than this Bill, although it is a fair point.

I welcome the comments from Deputy Wall who was present at the Curragh.

To my embarrassment I did not see him in the crowd and I did not recognise him that day. If he is watching, that was an oversight on my part and I apologise for it.

I thank all other Members for their contributions. We have taken note of them and will try to take them on board. I will be introducing a couple of amendments on Committee Stage, and if people have sensible amendments, I will take them on board. I hope I have a track record of doing that. However, I am not going to be taking on amendments just to be popular with any interest groups. They have to make sense and be right for this legislation. I am going to meet the Turf Club and discuss the concerns it still has in respect of the legislation. Before that we have Committee Stage. Where it makes sense to do so, we will show some flexibility, but we do not want to undermine the core of this Bill which is about putting a proper legislative foundation in place for the racing industry for the next 20 to 30 years.

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