Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Hartery for coming in today and sharing with us his extensive CV in the business world, and his interest in horse racing.

One of the major issues over the years has been the amount of taxpayers' money that goes into the horse racing industry. The industry receives a significant sum every year. I accept that this investment delivers a return in the sense that the activity in the horse racing industry generates tax revenue. Mr. Hartery referred to the impact of betting tax. Something clearly needs to be done in this area, although I will not get into what this should be. How can Horse Racing Ireland make the industry sustainable and enable it to pay its own way and more? As everyone will appreciate, it is difficult to make an argument for allocating the best part of €100 million to the horse and greyhound racing industries every year when hundreds of people are lying on hospital trolleys and we have a housing crisis and many other problems in society. Much of this money is used for prize money and we see that the people in the winner's enclosure are not exactly on the poverty line. This issue needs to be addressed by the industry.

On attendance at race meetings, Galway in a couple of weeks' time will be thronged to the rafters. At marquee meetings, whether it is Leopardstown at Christmas or whatever, the attendance is very good. Attendance at the ordinary, mundane meetings, however, is dropping significantly. At my local track, Thurles, on a Thursday in winter, there will barely be the people looking after the horses racing. Those tracks are struggling. Is anything envisaged which could promote the attendance at those bread-and-butter meetings, as we would call them? Many of these provisional tracks are under extreme pressure, especially in the winter time. They are an important part of the industry. Are there any plans to try to help those provincial winter tracks

Given his past experience, perhaps Mr. Hartery is the person to do it. It would also be a difficulty if we were to see an increase in betting tax and it went to pay for what people would see as an extravagance. There needs to be a sense that value for money would be coming from it. That brings me back to the point made that in the past decade or two it has become an industry in which it is very much the high flyers who are seen to take the cream, while a lot of those at the bottom such as the smaller trainers and breeders are struggling and finding it difficult to survive. A serious attempt needs to be made to rebalance that position. Simply creating a level playing field would not do that because the bigger players are so dominant. Measures have to be put in place to ensure the people at the bottom will be given more than a fair chance to rise and do better in that respect.

The issue of the working conditions of stable staff has come up at different times. Their remuneration needs to be looked at. There is a need to follow best practice because I know someone from my part of the country who works in the industry, loves horses and works with them nearly 20 hours a day, but they are not very well paid for the amount of energy and effort put in. While we all appreciate it is an industry in which there is a need for consistency and the same people to handle horses all of the time, at the same time there is an issue that cannot be ignored and which needs to be dealt with.

I refer to Brexit which Mr. Hartery mentioned as something that will clearly be a problem which we will all have to face. I live in a Border area and know that any issue of trade across the Border or the channel will be difficult. It does not only concern the movement of horses for racing, it also concerns the sale over and back of horses and other animals. Mr. Hartery mentioned healthcare standards, but from the point of view of public policy, does he believe there are particular areas at which we should be looking to enhance it to ensure Brexit will not have too serious or negative an impact on the horse racing industry?

I mention the relationship with bookmakers. A lot of small bookmakers feel squeezed because of the way the situation has developed during the years. It is another issue that clearly needs serious attention quickly because it is not appropriate that they have ended up in the situation in which they find themselves.

A lot of the big problems we have had during the years have had to do with management and how things are run. Certainly, the perception is that things could have been run a lot better. As the new person in the position of chairman, I would appreciate an assurance from Mr. Hartery that he has a handle on the matter and understands that these issues need to be dealt with appropriately.

hT lot of the big problems that we have had down the years have been around management and how things are run. The perception out there has certainly been that things could have been run a lot better and I would appreciate an assurance from the witness, as the new person in the position of chairman that he has a handle on that and that he understands that those issues are there and that they need to be deal with appropriately.