Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is taking away from them. He is not changing anything, he is only taking away, that is all. The State has never had any involvement in point-to-point racing. It is not mentioned in any legislation. It was not included in Indecon's terms of reference or report. It made no recommendation on point-to-point. Let us be clear and not start fool-acting.

The Minister said before that his rationale for including point-to-point in legislation was to get transparency in view of the fact that the sport is supported with a €1.5 million fund annually. Fair enough, we are fully with the Minister there. He is entitled to that. However, many other sports receive funding well in excess of €1.5 million - I can tell the Minister that - and there is no requirement for them to be included in legislation. They do not mandatorily have to register with a State body.

On Committee Stage the Minister put forward an amendment to maintain the existing nature of point-to-point steeplechase and he explained that this was trying to reinforce that point, that this is a committee which sets the regulations for the whole sector. That is a perfectly acceptable amendment. I was happy with that and indeed it was accepted by the INHS committee. Everybody was on board. However, the Bill before us today has further amended and delimited the INHS committee’s rights in this area, only allowing the committee to administer and control integrity. That is all they are getting.

If I did not know the Minister I would say it was sleight of hand. In one fell swoop he is taking away the right that the INHS committees have had for well over 100 years to govern and administer the sport. There is a difference. I understand this.

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