Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The sixth anniversary of the establishment of the education and training boards, ETBs, will fall on 1 July next. The then Minister, Ruairí Quinn, put an end to the vocational education college, VEC, system and he amalgamated the 33 VECS into 16 ETBs. My colleague, Senator Wilson, is very knowledgeable about this and he has raised it. One of the main reasons the then Minister gave for the amalgamation was the serious capital savings which he estimated at €2 million per year. I would like if the Minister for Education and Skills could come in and update us on those finances. I am not expecting any great savings because I have been observing how the ETBs have set up lots of sub-committees and been very active on a variety of fronts. I am not saying they are not giving value for money but Members would like to know if savings have been effected.

We are in the run-in to the great Cheltenham national hunt racing festival which, as the Cathaoirleach knows well, is the showpiece and flagship for national hunt racing in these islands and, in particular, here in our country where it is such an important part of the fabric of life and indeed the economy. Not everybody can afford to go to Cheltenham or Ascot or any of these places but there is a huge following for the racing game and people follow it by watching it on television.

Prior to this year viewers had a very real choice, they could pay onto their Sky package for "At the Races", channel 415, or "Racing UK", channel 426, I think. However, Horse Racing Ireland in its wisdom decided to give and grant the entire franchise for the televising of Irish racing to "Racing UK" which has now been transmogrified into "Racing TV" so there is no choice. If a person wants to join it costs €360 per annum on the Sky package and I have a feeling it will start going up because there is no competition there but that is not really my worry. My real worry is whether we will get enough racing on television any more. On any given Saturday there will be four, five, six and more race meetings in England, Scotland or Wales and there will probably be one or two here in Ireland. These races will overlap. The broadcaster is splitting the screen and there will be two races going on------