Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for the extension. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes. This may be his first time handling a Bill in the House, although he may have taken some Adjournment debates. I wish him well in his new role.

This motion has been passed by the Dáil and discussed by the agriculture committee, where I raised concerns about the issue. I will do so again today and add other concerns. I am a great believer in the need to support financially the sport and thoroughbred horse industry together with the greyhound industry, given the economic benefits that they provide and that are there for all to see.

The industry is unable to sustain itself through the betting system. This year, income from betting will be in the region of €25 million. The same amount next year would lead to a shortfall of approximately €30 million. My difficulty with this is that the taxpayer is being asked to carry the burden by way of statutory instrument, as requested in this motion. There are alternatives, one of which the Minister of State highlighted. The main alternative is to extend betting tax beyond bookmakers to online gambling. The online and offline gambling sectors are worth a combined €4.6 billion to the Exchequer this year. According to the Indecon report, a 1% tax rate would generate approximately €46 million. We should at least consider increasing the rate to 2% and generate €90 million. I would not propose to give all of the additional money to the horse and greyhound racing industry, as we forget that this income is not exclusively from that industry. This country has other sports. For example, the Irish Sports Council will receive €25 million this year. It represents 57 national sports, including the GAA, 32 local sports partnerships and 18 high-performance sports. Some of the money raised should go towards the council and possibly the FAI.

To ask the taxpayer to carry the can when there is an alternative is wrong. The legislation is lying in the Department of Finance. While it is not the Minister of State's fault, it is regrettable that the legislation was not tabled ahead of this motion. We would not have needed to approve this motion. Even if the rate was left at 1%, the shortfall would only have been €8 million if the tax was extended to online gambling.

I will address the greyhound racing industry in a moment, but I recognise fully the importance of the horse racing industry. It has served this country well. However, the funding model is wrong and no request should be made to a committee or either House of the Oireachtas seeking the taxpayer to carry the can where there is a shortfall and an alternative way of raising that money.

I am unsure of how much time I have left.