Results 20,081-20,100 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: I am prepared to look at this. I do not have any problem with it in principle. I would like to check it with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, but if it is consistent with the kind of language it can approve then I will do it on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: The amendment suggests that we should stick with what is there at the moment as opposed to making a change. One of reasons this legislation is being introduced is that we asked Indecon to report on the industry, its structure and its governance, and Indecon made some pretty clear recommendations about the composition of the board. One of those recommendations was to reduce the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: We are probably all on the same page on this issue. I have discussed this matter with various people who are passionate about point-to-point racing. I have also been to many point-to-point races and I spent a great deal of time around horses when I was growing up. We are not changing the structure of point-to-point racing, which is a success story. The system works and the sport is...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: We are coming to the certification and issuing issue in a while. That is under amendment No. 17.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: This has been a core concern of those involved in point-to-point racing and it is important that we try to nail it. All that is changing here is that when one registers a hunter for point-to-point racing, one sends the cheque to the administrative office. We are now asking it to do all the administration from an efficiency point of view. Everything else stays as it is in terms of local...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: We will come to that because there is an amendment on that issue.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: This is about the general functions of HRI.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: The section proposed to be amended states "to provide for the overall administration, governance, development and promotion of the Irish horseracing industry", and then very clearly, "other than functions assigned to the Racing Regulatory Body [which is the Turf Club] under section 39(1), including promoting and increasing attendance at authorised racecourses;". The section dealing with the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: We will come back with the legal advice. I accept that the Deputy is a barrister and I am not.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: A single structure is at the core of the Bill, in terms of what we are trying to do here. Following the advice of both Indecon and Smith and Williamson, we are trying to provide a single office whereby cheques and moneys come in and flow out to the various different parts of racing thus providing more transparency and efficiency. To delete a section and say that one seeks to provide a...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: Are we discussing the three amendments together?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: Deputy Penrose has left.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: We met the Turf Club to discuss this issue because I said that I would try to give reassurance here in terms of what is happening which is simply that there is administrative efficiency being introduced here. The concern of the Turf Club, if we are honest, was that by having a collection agency within the HRI that somehow HRI could hold on to that money for a period and use it as influence...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: The amendment deals with the issuing versus certifying issue.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: I am reviewing the language of this provision and if it is not correct I will bring forward an amendment on Report Stage. We are trying to accommodate the Deputy.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: There is registration, issuing and certification.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: We will. If the Deputy is happy for us to look at this issue and come back with a wording, having spoken to him and tried to reassure him, on Report Stage. We are hoping to take Report Stage next week if we can.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: HRI will accept a cheque for the registration of a hunter and will send out a certificate as a result of that. On the question of the issuing of certificates as done by local hunt clubs at present, and the certification that they go out to endorse, my understanding is that none of that changes. If the Deputy wants-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: No, it is not. The issuing of the certifications stays with the local hunt club. The registration of a hunter, in the first place, is a separate issue. That is what goes nationally at the moment into the turf club offices and will simply go to this new administrative office. All of the existing functions of local hunt clubs stay the same. Whether we use the language "issuing" or...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Simon Coveney: If that is fine we will do it.