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

I have not been asked by racehorse owners. There was no strong call in that regard. My only objective here, which we are following through, is to make sure that HRI, on behalf of the State because this is its legal function, actually puts together the best team possible to get the best financial return from the media rights deals that are available. It then has obligations in terms of how it spends that money. I want to trust the board, some members of which I or a future Minister will appoint, to use its judgement to put together a team of five people who can then bring contracts and proposals back for approval to the overall board, which will have racehorse owners represented on it. We will proceed on that basis. The current structure and system between the media rights group and the board of HRI is a reasonably good one and we are looking at continuing that and protecting it in legislation.

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