John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply, but I want to return to the Irish Greyhound Board. It is some €20 million in debt and has now made a decision to sell Harold's Cross, which will only clear a proportion of it. Harold's Cross is a profitable entity in its own right. It does not make good business sense to sell off something that is making a profit and to retain other elements that are loss making. The debt that is on the books of the Irish Greyhound Board goes back to previous decisions it made, primarily around the redevelopment of Limerick, and in that regard I would ask the Minister of State to make it known to the Irish Greyhound Board that the prospects of ministerial approval for this disposal are nil.

The Irish Greyhound Board needs to wake up and come up with a much more viable and proactive business plan rather than saying the only way out of this is to sell assets. It is a lazy way and does not address the issues. If it continues running the same business model without developing the business, then the sale of this will be futile. I am absolutely opposed to it. I ask the Minister of State and his colleagues to make that known to the Irish Greyhound Board at an early stage.

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