Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. My party will support the motion on the horse and greyhound racing fund. As the Minister of State rightly pointed out, Ireland is a world leader in this industry, which is what this is. While there is often a false perception about and an opposition to the allocation of such funds to what is perceived in the general domain to be a glorified sport, the Minister of State has pointed out with reference to the facts and figures that this is a major industry, particularly in parts of rural Ireland where neither industry nor employment are ten a penny.

There is an old adage which states that to accumulate, one must speculate. The fund makes an investment of €80 million in the sector with €64 million for the horse racing industry and €16 million for the greyhound racing industry at an 80:20 breakup. With that money, we are supporting an industry with an annual economic output of €1.6 billion according to the latest figures. In any man's language, it is a good reward for any investment. In this case, it helps to provide employment for up to 24,000 in rural areas. I ask those who think the investment should not be made whether they would prefer if the money had to be spent to fund social welfare payments to compensate those people if their jobs did not exist.

Racing plays a major role in our tourism industry with an estimated 80,000 tourists coming to the island annually with the primary goal of attending racing festivals. Those racing festivals also make a major contribution to their respective local economies with an estimated €260 million being spent annually in the likes of Killarney, Galway and elsewhere. The investment is reaping enormous rewards. The argument will be made that the horse racing industry would survive without this money. While that is possibly true, without this injection, our national industry would be an also-ran. By virtue of the stimulus and support provided by the fund, we are world leaders in this industry with Irish exports of bloodstock at €268 million. That is a serious input into our economy.

I had a number of issues but the Leas-Chathaoirleach asked me to be brief. I welcome the Minister of State's statement that the greyhound Bill will be forthcoming. I had intended to raise the matter but he got to speak first and cut me off at the pass. We will support the motion.