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

I move amendment No. 39:

In page 16, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following:“(4) Section 42(2) (as inserted by Section 7 of the Act of 2001) should be replaced with the following:

"(2) If in respect of the level of or costs of integrity services or the provision of information pertaining to the integrity services budget in any particular year, or disputes in relation to legitimate budget overruns and unforeseen costs that the Racing Regulatory Body may need to incur to carry out its functions under this Act, agreement is not reached between HRI and the Racing Regulatory Body:

(a) they may agree to the appointment of one expert or group of persons or consultancy arbitrate on (i) the level of integrity services to be provided for that year bearing in mind that the Racing Regulatory Body is obliged to provide integrity services to the highest possible standard to ensure the Rules of Racing are fully and fairly enforced for the benefit of horse racing and breeding in Ireland and that where possible integrity services recommended by the Racing Regulatory Body in any year shall be fully funded for such purpose and (ii) the cost of that level of integrity services; or

(b) in case they fail to agree to any such appointment to arbitrate on that cost or level, the Minister may appoint a person to so decide and the decision of the expert or group or consultancy shall be final and binding on both parties.

HRI shall not be entitled to withhold from the Racing Regulatory Body any funds which are part of an integrity services budget which has been agreed (or which has been determined by an expert or group of persons or consultancy).”.”.

I spoke at length on this on Committee Stage but the Minister was not for moving on it. He did not want another big amorphous structure set up for arbitration, and he probably has a point. He could not foresee some of the things I foresaw in respect of the level of costs and everything else that is required with independent intervention. I assume the Minister is still of that view and that he will not concede. I have therefore moved the amendment to see if he has changed his mind, although I do not anticipate that he has. However, he might come forward with something even better than this from a drafting viewpoint.

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