Results 12,061-12,080 of 20,796 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: I asked Mr. Meaney a specific question.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: I am addressing a specific issue. Can Mr. Meaney answer the question?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Can the witness verify that he believed that statement when he said it? There is nothing wrong with that. Is it correct that he believed what he said on the day?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: That is not a big issue but it tells me that Mr. Meaney, chairman of Bord na gCon, gave evidence on 4 May that, under the Act, board members were not allowed to own greyhounds and he believed that. He did not know whether or not board members were allowed to own dogs because he did not know the Act. That is obvious because what he said is not accurate, as he has now admitted. The chairman...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: I am moving on because we are pressured for time but I wanted that point on the record. One has to have confidence in the chairman of an organisation. Mr. Meaney did not know the Act. That is a fundamental issue. I read the transcript of the evidence Mr. Walsh gave to this committee. He said that at the height of the recession, attendance figures dropped. He tried to manage that. He...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Mr. Walsh was boasting about increased attendance figures even though it was increasing from a base which was the lowest ever. However, there was an increase of between 4% and 5%.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Page 19 of the annual report states that attendance levels in 2014 were 644,000 and those in 2015 were 635,000. That is not an increase of between 4% and 5%, it is a decrease.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: The witness is now saying that there was not an increase, that there was an average increase per meet.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Comparisons between the horse racing and greyhound industries were discussed on the previous occasion the witness gave evidence here. He said: "The on-Tote revenues for horse racing and greyhound racing have continued to operate in very challenging betting environments since 2007, with a decline in Tote revenues of 67.9% at domestic horse tracks and 66% at greyhound tracks." However, if one...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: I did not say the witness did so.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: I intended to refer to Mr. Meaney. I apologise. I will return to the issue regarding revenue.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Mr. Neilan was sitting beside Mr. Meaney.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Four countries, not 30 countries. The feeling taken away from the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts attended by Mr. Neilan, who has now moved on to pastures new, was that the greyhound industry was going to experience an upturn because 30 contracts were going to be signed. Four have been signed. Is that accurate?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: What happened to the other 26 contracts?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Okay. When I say "okay" it is not that I accept that. It is incredible that-----

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: What is the exact figure?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Lads, come on. - this is just incredible. The witnesses are sitting beside one another.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: Hold on a second.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)

Alan Kelly: I have put a question. In previous evidence here, Mr. Nyhan was with Mr. Meany, although to be fair it was not Mr. Meany who said it but Mr. Nyhan. I am not going to wrong the pair because I watched the debate. It is funny, because 30 contracts were to be signed.