Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

On the greyhound racing side in 2024, 358,141 people attended just short of 1,500 race meetings at 14 stadia.

The economic activity point has been made by a number of Deputies regarding the attendances at those stadia, the spin-off industry that happens in the bars and restaurants outside the racing activity, the best dressed ladies, the boutiques, the hairdressers, the men's clothes shops and all that activity. A number of years ago, the Punchestown racing festival was calculated to be worth over €60 million to the local economy. That was before the pandemic, so I can imagine it is a multiple of that now. I do not have the latest figures to hand, but that figure is from my local festival off memory.

I can imagine what Galway is worth. I know what Listowel is worth to Kerry and beyond, as Deputy Healy-Rae and others have outlined.

A point was made about race money. The spread of prize money for racing is something that is not fully understood. The HRI factbook 2024 showed that out of 390 fixtures, there were 8,022 individual runners and 27% of those horses won at least one race. Some 5,800 of the individual runners won prize money at some stage, which equates to around 73% of individual runners or 71% compared to 2023. Of around 2,900 individual races, over 2,400 had prize money of under €25,000, with 129 having prize money greater than €100,000. Some people stood up here and made reference to a class divide. I did not do that. The inference is that there is one. There are suggestions from Members of the House that this is an elitist activity, something I countenance greatly.

Deputy Gogarty, along with a number of others, spoke about there being no activity on the welfare piece. As a result of the "Prime Time Investigates" programme, we established the Professor Paddy Wall report in the Department. The publication of his report was combined with a 38-point action plan and a proposal, published in consultation with Professor Wall's report earlier this year. There were five key headings, which I will not go into because my time is up. The implementation of the Wall report is at an advanced stage.

Reference was made to the census and many different areas. There are key actions in this space. I do not have enough time to address every point directly but I will conclude by thanking people for their contributions. As I said in my opening address, sections 12 and 13 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001 provides that a draft of the regulations be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving the draft be passed by each House. I again ask for the support of the House to ensure that Horse Racing Ireland and Rásaíocht Con Éireann receive the funding provided for in budget 2026. I commend the regulation to the House.

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