Results 3,621-3,640 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Further and Higher Education Institutions: Discussion (22 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan has returned, so I call him now.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Further and Higher Education Institutions: Discussion (22 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: I want to allow one more person back in. Senator Dolan has been waiting and she did a favour for me last week by stepping in to chair a meeting. I will give Senator Dolan two minutes. We have gone beyond the allocated time and the Covid officer will be after me. I know she is smiling at me, but I have gone over 20 minutes today. I want to be fair to Senator Aisling Dolan.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Further and Higher Education Institutions: Discussion (22 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: I ask the Minister, Deputy Harris, to comment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: I thank the witnesses for attending. There have been a number of high-profile busts by the Department's special investigations unit which have led to prosecutions. Two notable cases come to mind which have been highlighted, the Philip Fenton case and the Pat Hughes case. Those involved speak of long hours, sometimes days or weeks, spent outside vets' premises or in trainers' yards, with...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: That is okay. How many investigations were carried out in 2020?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: Perhaps Mr. Drea can come back to me on that. The horse population in Ireland has very much increased over the years so it does not make sense that Mr. Drea would say there are fewer people staffing the investigations unit. That does not make sense to me.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: Mr. Drea would find it very hard to convince me. Will he come back to me with a number for the investigations carried out from 2012 to 2021?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: Is the Department satisfied with the horse racing industry that can regulate itself as it is constituted under the current structures? Perhaps Dr. Smyth will answer that question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: Has the independence and gender balance of the board only come to light since we have raised this issue?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: No. I am asking Dr. Smyth if he has shared concerns about the independence of the board and about the gender balance on the board, or has he only raised these concerns with us now because he is appearing before the committee? Has he raised these concerns with the IHRB previously?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: The Department oversees it on behalf of the taxpayer. Dr. Smyth is being paid by the taxpayer to oversee the goings-on in HRI and the IHRB. Am I right in stating that the Department has not said anything to them about the independence of the board or the gender balance on it?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: They do not have to publish salaries. Under what regulation is this provided? It was referred to earlier but I missed it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: Okay. Given that they are receiving more than €9 million in taxpayers' money, has Dr. Smyth ever thought that perhaps they should publish the salaries of the staff within the IHRB? Dr. Smyth has said there is commercial sensitivity but who are they comparing themselves with commercially?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: I accept that but when Dr. Smyth says "commercial sensitivities", who are they measuring themselves against?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: My thinking on commercial sensitivity would be if there were similar companies who did not want to publish salaries because they did not want their competitor to know. I am not sure who the IHRB's competitors are when it comes to commercial sensitivities.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: On animal identification, Mr. Sheahan stated that we have the Rolls Royce of such models and that Ireland is renowned right across the world when it comes to cattle movements and so on. How does Ireland compare itself when it comes to horse movements. I do not wish to compare racehorses with cattle, but in the context of their movements, passports and so on, how do we compare with the rest...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: To paraphrase someone, there is a lot done but more to do. Would I be right in saying that?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: I am very disappointed. I am of the view that the Department has been dragging its feet on this matter. The ordinary farmer driving cattle cannot move anything without reporting it, yet there are horses worth millions of euro on the move and we can see what is happening within that industry. We are very lax on some of the rules and regulations. Have the Department investigators ever had...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: Why does the investigation unit not go on its own? Why does it have to bring IHRB officers?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)
Paul Kehoe: I note Deputy Fitzmaurice wants to contribute. I have one further question for Dr. Smyth. Has he or any of his staff in that section of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine ever received any hospitality from the Horseracing Ireland, HRI, the IHRB or any horse trainers?