Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

— while it is acknowledged that the horse and greyhound racing sectors do not qualify for sports capital funding, they are unique in Irish sport in that they are supported by the State through their own ring-fenced statutory fund;

— payments into the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund (Fund) have increased from €55 million in 2013 up to the €91 million proposed for 2023, an increase of over 65 per cent in a decade, with the proposed payment for 2023 an increase of a further €3 million over 2022;

— there is a question as to the continuing appropriateness of the indexation formula that is intended to provide a floor for Exchequer payments into the Fund, linked to receipts from excise duty on off-course betting;

— up to 2009 the statutory indexation formula was followed, the Minister for Finance has confirmed the formula was abandoned in 2009, without enabling change to the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001, and the approach since then has been for a unilateral decision by the Government on the amount to be provided to the Fund in each year;

— a significant amount of the Fund is used for prizes, which seems to benefit those who are most successful, and no independent economic or social impact analysis has been carried out to determine the best use of this resource; and

— although in the intervening years there have been reports of serious animal welfare concerns in both sectors, there is a lack of clear statutory conditionality that would make any State financial support conditional on rigorous animal welfare criteria being satisfied, nor are any conditions related to workers' rights in the sector attached to the funding;

believes therefore that the funding model under section 12 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001 is in urgent need of review and replacement, and calls on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to carry out such a full and independent review of the Fund, including in particular with recommendations on:

— how best to support these sectors, those involved in it, and rural communities;

— measures needed to ensure the highest standards of animal welfare are implemented and complied with;

— how the rights of workers in the sector can be improved and an employment regulation order introduced to set minimum rates of pay and conditions; and

— whether and how funding for these sectors and other sports should be aligned,

to be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas within six months, with the amended legislation being in place before the anticipated date of any further presentation of draft regulations under this section for the approval of the Houses, and

approves the following Regulations in draft:

Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2022,

copies of which were laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on the 13th October, 2022.".

See this speech in context