Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)

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;

— payments into the Fund have increased from €68 million in 2015, up to the €99.1 million proposed for 2026, and that the total allocated to the Fund since 2001, is likely to exceed €2 billion by 2027;

— 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;

— 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; and

believes therefore that the funding model under section 12 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001, is in urgent need of comprehensive review and replacement, beyond the scope of the recent Indecon governance review submitted to the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts, 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, its economic value, 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;

the review to be laid before both Houses 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 2025,

copies of which were laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on the 16th October, 2025.".

I will pick up a point put across by the Minister of State on an urban versus rural divide here. That is overly simplistic, although I am not saying it is the only point he made. I grew up in a working-class area of Dublin. Many people in that area raised and raced greyhounds. There are a number of distinctions. Deputy Kenny raised that those of us in urban settings have seen, at least on the greyhound side, families who have been involved in it. There are class distinctions here as well in terms of working-class pursuits, etc. There is a whole host of complexities, heritages and everything. That is not lost on people on this side of the House, whether they are from an urban or rural area.

Taking all that in, we have to make an analysis of whether this model of funding, which is what we are voting on, is a model that can be stood over in terms of everything we know and what comes back. It is not an easy question to answer, but it is one we have to answer and deal with differently. This legislation has been in place since 2001. Aspects of it, such as allocations of excise duty on betting and the indexation referred to in section 12 of the Act, have been abandoned yet remain on the Statute Book, ignored by the Government. Nearly €100 million is to be allocated this year. By 2027, over €2 billion will have been allocated through the fund to two specific sectors, namely, horse racing and greyhound racing. No other pursuit or sport gets such generous and dedicated stand-alone funding from the State and none that is voted on by the Oireachtas every year.

This fund started off with the proceeds of the betting levy.

None of it goes on football, for example, for which a huge number of bets are laid in Ireland. For years, the Labour Party has been calling for an increase in that levy to fund investment in community sporting facilities, improved pitches and critically a programme to transform Irish football. It is long overdue that a full review is carried out on the purpose of this fund, and not just a desk-based governance review as was carried out by INDECON this year for the Department at the request of the public accounts committee. For that report, INDECON only consulted with the Department, Horse Racing Ireland, Greyhound Racing Ireland - Rásíocht con Éireann - the IHRB and their own in-house or self-commissioned reports. It did not carry out its own independent economic evaluation. There was no public consultation, nor did it engage with animal welfare organisations or community groups, workers' representatives or examine what is happening in other jurisdictions and what best practice is. It was not asked to consider whether the fund itself is the best model. It did conclude that more needed to be done on welfare, including the setting of targets. This is why a comprehensive review and replacement of the current arrangements is necessary and is what we propose in our amendment. This is the fourth year we have sought this. We know both horse racing and greyhound breeding support jobs and rural communities in particular and has a heritage in many areas and families. As I mentioned, that is not lost on us. However, we know there are significant animal welfare issues across both codes. The treatment of greyhounds has been well documented in recent years. Progress may have been made but more certainly needs to be done and independent oversight is needed. We can see the direction of travel with regard to the greyhound industry in other jurisdictions. Similar welfare issues impact horse racing. It is nearly 18 months since "RTÉ Investigates" revealed the treatment of horses at an equine abattoir, which raised questions about what happened after their racing career ended. Since that exposé Labour has called for an equine traceability scheme that covers the full life cycle of an animal.

It is not just animal welfare concerns this amendment seeks to address. While hundreds of millions are invested in stud farms, breeding and horse racing every year there are serious problems for many of those working in the sector on awful terms and conditions. There was a report last summer that An Garda investigated an allegation that a worker from Pakistan was illegally trafficked into Ireland to work at the stable of a leading horse trainer in County Kilkenny. It followed a WRC award of €86,000 in pay to that worker due to a breach of minimum wage and employment law by the trainer, Tony Mullins. The worker had been required to work 13 out of 14 days, was on weekly pay of €350 with €100 of that paid in cash. He was given accommodation but not given holidays for over two years. He worked an average of 56 hours per week over two years before being unfairly dismissed. This report should have set alarm bells ringing the way the previous reports on animal welfare should have. There should be a full review into terms and conditions of workers in this sector considering the State continues to invest millions in it every year. We encourage all Members to support our amendment.

See this speech in context