Alan Kelly (Tipperary, 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;

— that payments into the Fund have increased from €54 million in 2014 up to the €95 million proposed for 2024, an increase of 76 per cent in a decade, with the proposed payment for 2024 an increase of a further €4 million over 2023;

— 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;

— while up to 2009 the statutory indexation formula was followed, the Minister for Finance has confirmed that the formula was abandoned in 2009, without any enabling change in the Act, and that the approach since then has been for a unilateral decision by 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 a view to amending legislation being in place well 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 2023,

copies of which were laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on the 18th October, 2023.".

Traditionally, the Labour Party has supported this fund. However, every year there is a situation where we need to re-examine the structure of this. Members of the Public Accounts Committee have called for this. It seems to hobble on from year to year. I asked last year that we would use the year to re-examine how it is calculated, the formula and the manner in which we have to come in here every year and vote on it. This needs to amended from a legislative point of view. At some stage, will the Minister deal with that, even if it is part of another Bill? It is a bit ridiculous.

I am very supportive of the industries, given where I come from in Tipperary. I was born a few fields away from where Tiger Roll was bred. Tipperary and Kildare are by far the two largest counties when it comes to horse racing. Tipperary is one of the largest counties when it comes to greyhound racing as well. The formula by which this calculation is done needs to be looked at. My former employers in Fáilte Ireland have a thoroughbred marketing strategy which relates just to Tipperary and Kildare. That illustrates the value of the industry, which employs up to 40,000 people.

On overall funding of sports, we need to look at this when it comes to the horse and greyhound fund, gambling legislation, sports funding, sports capital and the role of Sport Ireland. It comes across as if Sport Ireland is a regulator but it is not a regulator over sports and has no say over where large sports capital funding goes, which is ridiculous. Then there is this fund as well. This funding is all well-meant and I support all of it but how can we ensure it is being distributed and administered most effectively? How can we ensure the fund going to horse racing is being used appropriately and fairly and going to smaller players and actors in the industry in the same proportion as to others? Similarly, when it comes to greyhound racing, we must ensure that it is not going to administration rather than to those in the industry.

The Minister should appoint a person, if not two people, to the board from a welfare background. I know of various proposals to the greyhound board on welfare which have not been taken aboard. There are changes afoot in relation to that board. Hopefully, that will see changes in this area and in administration.

We need to look at how people are paid, particularly in the horse racing industry. There should be a sectoral employment order in the area. Thousands of people are employed but what are their rates of pay and working conditions? What hours do they work? Are those hours compatible with what is set out in the Organisation of Working Time Act? This might seem unusual to some people but it is important to me because I come from Tipperary where there are hundreds of people employed in the industry. It is critical that there be a fair rate of pay for all the people working across the various sectors, many of them on very low pay. The reason they want to work in the sector is their love of horses and horse racing. In many cases, their working conditions are not up to the level required and they are not paid enough.

The final issue I want to raise relates to gambling legislation. We know about the origins of this fund and the formulas and all of that. Maybe as part of that, the Government could look at funding across all sports, including this fund, sports capital and a range of other areas. In doing so, maybe we will get to a proper equitable distribution for everybody, including horse racing and greyhound racing.

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