Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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895. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the allocations made by Horse Racing Ireland to its prize fund; the allocation to the prize fund from the horse and greyhound racing fund; and the allocation from commercial activity in each of the past two years, in tabular form. [6674/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001 is a commercial State Body responsible for the overall administration, promotion and development of the horse racing industry.

The horse and greyhound racing industries receive financial support from the State through the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund (the Fund) as provided for under Section 12 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001. My Department makes payments from the Fund to HRI and to Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ). This is distributed in accordance with Section 12(6) of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001, with 80% allocated to HRI and 20% to RCÉ.

In 2021 €76. 8m was allocated to HRI from the Fund of which €61.4m related to current expenditure and €15.4m for capital expenditure. In 2022 €70.4m was allocated to HRI from the Fund of which €55.7m related to current expenditure and €14.7m for capital expenditure.In relation to the current expenditure allocation, my Department requests that no more than the 80% be applied to prizemoney and a minimum of 20% be applied to integrity services.

HRI has informed my Department that their prizemoney allocations for 2021 and 2022 were funded from a combination of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund and from commercial income.

The information the Deputy has requested in relation to prizemoney allocations for 2021 and 2022 is detailed below.

Prizemoney allocations 2021 and 2022

* In 2021, €7m of the €43.166m was funded from commercial income.

**In 2022, €9.7m of the €41.9m was funded from commercial income.