Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up on a point raised by my colleague, Deputy Cairns. We know that the grant from the horse and greyhound fund for 2021 is set to be €96 million, which is to be split in the ratio of 80:20 in favour of horse racing. This motion concentrates, as the Deputy said, exclusively on greyhounds. The greyhound sector will be funded by the Exchequer to the tune of €19.2 million in 2021 when the proposed increase of €2.6 million is factored in. Without State subvention, the greyhound sector is, quite simply, not viable. At a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, we heard from the chief executive of the IGB, Mr. Gerard Dollard, in October of last year. He spoke about the viability of tracks and told the committee that if one considers tracks from the point of view of their performance, including the tote, events and hospitality services, only the stadium in Cork and Shelbourne Park are viable. If, however, one considers the prize money the IGB pays out, no track is viable. Without the funds transferred to the IGB from the Exchequer, there would be no prize money, so no track is viable.

Bord na gCon, which has now been rebranded as the Irish Greyhound Board, is a semi-state company and, uniquely, has not paid a dividend to the State in 25 years. The Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001 provided for excise duty on off-course betting to be ring-fenced.

This is one of the very few examples of any tax being ring-fenced or guaranteed. Ring-fencing taxes for a specific sector is not a feature of the Irish taxation system. However, in the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act it is mentioned in regard to excise duty on off-course betting. It established a minimum level of funding and, further, it cannot be less than the amount of excise duty generated in 2000, increased by inflation.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, made a statement in June that the betting duty forecast for 2020 had been revised downward to €60 million due to Covid-19, which is €35 million lower than the receipts for 2019. It appears that this scenario is likely and that central Exchequer funding will be needed to increase the fund to the guaranteed level. It seems, therefore, that greyhound racing is more essential than many essential services.

I expect that when this fund was set up most gambling would have been on horses and greyhounds. However, the advent of online gambling has changed that. Today, one can practically bet on two flies going up a wall. Commenting on the amount of funding that goes to football, which is the most played sport, Niall Quinn noted the passion for betting in this country and observed that betting on football matches accounted for more than 40% of betting in betting outlets, online and retail. He questioned why some of that income was not directed to other sports, including football. There are many things we could propose that the €19.2 million could be spent on, including animal welfare. In the area of youth work, for example, 1,400 staff and more than 40,000 volunteers support 380,000 young people across the country. In 2020, they received €61.79 million, which is about 30% less than the allocation to the horse and greyhound fund. If we look at the amount provided to other sports relative to the level of participation in them, there is nothing like the same level of transfers. I will leave it at that and allow my colleague to make further points.

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