Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment. We debated this issue in November and one of the Government backbenchers in my county sent me an email on the decision made at the time. Appropriately, he had been photographed beside the statue of a horse, as the email announced that the horse and greyhound fund was being increased by 26% to €68 million, of which 80% was to go to the horse racing industry. That is a subsidy to everyone who attends a horse race meeting of €54 and to everybody who attends a dog race meeting of €12.60. In the same period the SILC report shows that we have reduced disposable income for every child in the country by €3,300. That is a 16% reduction in what people have to spend on children and a 26% increase in expenditure on horses and dogs. It is a totally inappropriate set of priorities.

I am delighted this issue is to be discussed. When the fund was first established by the late Albert Reynolds, there was approximately £3 million for horse racing and £500,000 for dog racing. The fund was capped over its lifetime, subject to a ministerial change. It was never intended to exceed €200 million, but we are now spending that much every three years. It is not the cap from 1992 which was expected to prevail over the entire lifetime of the fund, subject to a major review of the legislation.