Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "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 €68 million in 2015, up to the €99.1 million proposed for 2025, a 46 per cent increase over the decade, with the proposed payment for 2025 an increase of a further €4 million over 2024;

- 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 Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001, 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;

- 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 2024, copies of which were laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on the 3rd October, 2024.".

It is the same amendment as last year and I hope it will be supported. We have always supported this fund, as the Minister of State knows. I do so because I know how important, traditionally, these industries are but we need to re-examine the structure of it and the idea we let it roll over every year. I do not even know why there is an individual vote on this every year. That aside, we need to look at how it is functioning. It is left in limbo every year. Time has moved on and the way this was set up has become disintermediated. There is a need to relook at it. I believe in funding the industries but we need to look at the broader issue. Could we look at the formulas? Could we look at a broader fund incorporating all other areas of sport? Do we need to look at amending legislation to help this, segregate it and measure it?

I was born in Tipperary a few fields away from Tiger Roll, one of the most successful horses ever - certainly one of the smallest horses to ever win so much. My old employers in Fáilte Ireland have a thoroughbred marketing strategy which relates only to the Minister of State's county and mine because it is so important to our economies, employing up to 40,000 people. It is critical we support the industries but also that we look at ways in which this can be moved on, modernised and targeted at smaller breeders and smaller players in the industry, particularly in the horse racing industry.

We need to look at how we can incorporate this along with everything else that is going on in sports funding. We had Sport Ireland in front of us at the Committee of Public Accounts. I often think people do not really understand what that body does. It is not a regulator. Do we need to look at this in the broader sense of how we fund sports? We have sports capital, direct sports funding from the Department and funding from Sport Ireland, other State organisations, local authorities, regional authorities and a range of other sources. How can we look at this all together so it is appropriated fairly and effectively, ensuring we support sport and active participation while supporting these industries which are critical to rural life and employ so many people?

I have said numerous times welfare is paramount. We need more people from a welfare background on the board. I said the same thing this time last year.

An issue I am passionate about is this. There are many fantastic people involved in both industries but I have a concern the passion young people, in particular, show for the horse racing and breeding industry can be overlooked and they can be taken for granted. They are passionate about it and love it so much, but are they being paid fairly? It is an issue I have a concern about. I urge that a process be put in place to ensure young people working in the industry are protected by the working time Act - because they do serious hours - and are paid a fair wage for the work they do.

I believe a registered employment agreement across the sector would be very beneficial, as it would be in many sectors. We have thousands of people working in this industry. We could grade and identify their work, create a certain pay standard for it and adhere to the working time Act. From the perspective of those who support horse racing, that would be a very good thing and something we should really look at into the future.

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