Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be somewhat parochial at the beginning. Obviously, it has been a great week for Kerry, with the dual win in both the minor and senior football championships. There was also a hugely successful racing festival in Listowel. I wish to refer in particular to the latter, because I have a bee in my bonnet about it. Racegoers will know that festival meetings such as Galway, Listowel, Punchestown and Tramore are the backbone of Irish racing. They make the biggest contribution to the revenue of Horse Racing Ireland and the general fiscal situation. Each day in Listowel there were approximately 25,000 to 30,000 people in attendance. On the very weekend that Listowel began, however, Horse Racing Ireland put on an extravaganza of high-quality classic racing at the Curragh and Leopardstown, with prize funds into the millions, attracting top-class stallion colts such as Australia. I can assure the House that between them the crowds at Leopardstown and the Curragh would not compare to those that turned up at Listowel for the day of the Kerry National, which is only worth €100,000. Horse Racing Ireland therefore needs to get its act together, because this is a further downgrading of rural Ireland. Listowel Race Week is a fixture, especially in the south-western counties. Racegoers come there from all over the country. Yet here is Horse Racing Ireland biting the hand that feeds it. We receive a copy of the annual report every year showing where money is coming in on the tote, which is the revenue for horse racing. It comes from the festival meetings, with ordinary horses owned by ordinary guys. They are not expensive animals at all in the National Hunt sport that we all love so well. Yet Horse Racing Ireland puts on these million-euro races the same day, which is absolutely crazy.

I wish to make another point, and I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. There was a somewhat disquieting report in the newspapers last week about the days-off situation that obtains for gardaí at certain levels. My understanding is that gardaí are obliged to work ten days running and then take four days off together. It might be sensible in one way, but I understand it is causing serious problems, especially at senior level, where a Garda superintendent may be in hot pursuit on a particular crime. One must strike when the iron is hot, as they say, yet such a person is obliged to take four days off.