Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to support the motion to extend the upper ceiling for the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. I welcome the Minister and his contribution. Four minutes is a short time to speak so I will not rehash the figures and the investment into the fund, and the great role that it plays in rural Ireland. Most, if not all, horse and greyhound trainers are based in rural areas. Having a horse or greyhound trainer can cause significant activity in the area's economy, due to requirements for food, transport, staff, and so on. This money filters down. Horse and greyhound racing are both industries. While they are sports, as I said at the committee, the sport lasts for five minutes in many cases. The preparation for those five minutes can involve three or four years of employment, nurturing and caring for a horse, which involves expenditure in the local community.

I welcome the Minister's acknowledgement of the report of the joint committee. I hope that he will act on it. There are many positives in the report and changes that could be made on the back of it. It is not a silver bullet but I ask him to consider it. Implementing some, if not all, of its recommendations would be a significant bonus, with a particular emphasis on horse and dog welfare. I welcome the Minister's commitment and that of HRI and Rásaíocht Con Éireann in this regard in recent years. There has been well-documented controversy in all elements of the media. There have been totally unacceptable cases, which need to be weeded out. There needs to be traceability, which was introduced in the Greyhound Racing Act 2019. Part of the joint committee's report relates to the greyhound tracing system. I would like to see that implemented for horse racing too.

There is an amendment to the motion, which I will not support. It asks the Minister to conduct a full review of the expenditure and investment by the fund. As the Minister mentioned in his report, in 2017, HRI, through the Deloitte report, and the greyhound racing industry, through the Power report, did that full review. Those reports were presented to the joint committee. Each year, this motion to approve the extension of the upper limit of the ceiling for expenditure is thoroughly examined by the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The CEOs and representatives of HRI and Rásaíocht Con Éireann appear annually before the committee. I feel that the review that has been requested is being carried out in a far more thorough and detailed manner than it might be in many other areas. I do not see the need for duplication.

The amendment questions the money going towards prizes. I am actively involved in racing and, up until last week, I was a chairperson of a racing committee. This is not all prize money. The HRI grants aid to race committees on a percentage basis for developments, stabling, catering facilities and facilities for the paying public. There will be more of a need for that in future. As we come out of Covid, with an emphasis on people enjoying a day at the greyhound races, they will want more open air facilities and to spend more time outside. We will probably need more investment in facilities for punters and it is important that the money filters down. As the Acting Chairperson and I mentioned at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, we have had much representation from the horse and pony fund, which is struggling to put together insurance money. Is there any way for money from this fund to filter to the fund? Our top jockeys have all come through the pony racing cycle.

On the prize money, many people and the amendment here state that too much money goes to prizes. The prize money attracts the horses. Looking closely at horse racing, because of our prize money in Ireland, many English owners have their horses stabled and trained in Ireland. That enhances our business, game and sport. If it was not for the quality of our prize money, that would not happen. There is an argument about the majority of the prize money going to a certain few. Those few are the bigger stables. Considering the number of people that they employ in rural areas, it is probably an equal share pro rata.