John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

Whether a jail sentence is an effective deterrent in the case of very large sums of money is questionable. I know of one case with regard to the misuse of hormones in cattle where the person chose to go to jail rather than pay the fine because, in his view, it was worth £20,000 per week, or whatever, to go into relative luxury in a jail in the west and remain their for the period. We need to be aware of what these people are about.

On the issue of offshore accounts, I accept there are double taxation treaties. I accept that if people are resident outside the country, they pay the tax in the country in which they are resident. Apparently, Portugal has tightened up its property laws with regard to people avoiding — not evading — capital taxes. Somebody somewhere has to recognise that what is good business is not good citizenship and that citizens have a responsibility to their country. There are wealthy individuals who accept those responsibilities but there are others, who are extremely wealthy, who do not and questions have to be asked.

My final point, which was raised on the Order of Business this morning, relates to the taxation of the bloodstock industry. The first thing that has to be said is that the exemption is on the stud fees of stallions. While the flagships of Coolmore and Godolphinare in the public eye, many others are struggling to make ends meet in the industry.If this country means anything to many countries abroad, it is the quality of its bloodstock industry. We saw last night on "Horse Operas" Aidan O'Brien going to America with Johannesburg and High Chaparral and winning, effectively, the world championship of racing. The comments made by the leading American trainers about the quality of the Irish bloodstock was something to behold. This industry was dying on its feet because the best stallions in the world were being exported. Now, at least, we have Saddlers Wells and the one we are not meant to speak about because of the dispute which is taking place at present, Rock of Gibraltar. These are world class animals and they should stay in this country so that our world class industry survives and prospers. I am not critical of the exemption on stallion fees. In my county of Kildare, there are far more people involved in the horse industry, 10,500, than in farming. It is a hugely important industry and it has provided jobs to people who had little going for them. Let us be clear about it — it is an exemption on stud fees. It is represented as an exemption on all the activities of the industry but it is not.