Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 23 Oct 2024

I move:

That Seanad Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2024, copies of which were laid in draft form before Seanad Éireann on 3rd October, 2024.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and Senators for facilitating this important motion and for the increase of the horse and greyhound fund in order to accommodate this year's budget.

As we know, both the horse and greyhound racing sectors are particularly important to our rural economy. Both industries received financial support through the horse and greyhound racing fund under section 12 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001. Payments are made from the fund to Horse Racing Ireland and to Rásaíocht Con Éireann. Exchequer support provided from the fund is crucial to the survival and continued development of the horse and greyhound racing industries. Since 2001, there has been a total of €1.7 billion paid from the fund to the horse and greyhound racing industries in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

The cumulative upper limits on payments from the fund, provided for under the relevant regulations, has been reached. In order to give effect to the provisions of budget 2025, this cumulative upper limit must be increased by regulation. The Estimates from my Department passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas are part of budget 2025, including the allocation of €99 million for the horse and greyhound racing fund. This will be distributed in accordance with section 12(6) of the Act, with 80% or €79.3 million going to Horse Racing Ireland and 20% equating to €19.8 million going to Rásaíocht Con Éireann. In order to allow my Department to provide the money allocated in budget 2025, it is necessary to comply with the technical requirement under section 12(13) of the Act to increase the cumulative limit on the fund payable from the horse and greyhound racing fund by €99.1 million to €1.8 billion. This is achieved by way of the regulations submitted to this House today and the aggregate limit of the horse and greyhound racing fund has been increased in this manner in 2004 and again in 2009 and every year since then.

I want to briefly focus on both industries, starting with the horse racing industry. I wish to outline its importance. According to the 2023 Deloitte report on the social and economic impact of various thoroughbred breeding and racing, it estimated that the Irish thoroughbred industry has an annual economic impact of €2.46 billion, representing a 34% increase in its economic impact since 2016. The sector also supports direct and indirect jobs of approximately 30,000 people, the majority of which are in rural communities. It has an incredible reputation worldwide as a centre and location for breeding and racing, as evidenced by Ireland's position as the second largest producer of bloodstock in the world by value sold, after the USA. Ireland also has the world's third highest number of thoroughbreds foaled each year, after the USA and Australia.

The thoroughbred sector is a firm part of the identity of many parts of rural Ireland and Government funding has been a key driver in retaining this status over the years. As proven again in 2023, Irish owners, trainers, jockeys and horses continued to hold and set a high standard with their exceptional achievements and enduring influence, underscoring Ireland's international prominence in the sector.

The welfare of both people and animals is a key priority within this sector, as evidenced by HRI's current strategic plan. My Department will continue to support both Horse Racing Ireland and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board in this regard. An independent review of the IHRB's anti-doping programme, carried out by an international equine anti-doping expert, Craig Suann, also showed the strength of our sector and how it has made significant advances in recent years.

The Power report in 2021 indicated that the greyhound sector supports over 4,000 full-time and part-time jobs in the economy, with in excess of 6,000 active greyhound owners underpinning this sector.

The future of the industry is dependent on a strong governance platform and on the industry having the highest standards of integrity and welfare. There is a strong commitment to improve animal welfare in this sector in the programme for Government, and this Government's support is contingent on a guarantee of welfare standards being upheld by Rásaíocht Con Éireann annually. This is reflected in the annual parameters set out by my officials in the regular interactions with RCÉ. RCÉ continues to operate an ever-expanding greyhound care fund, utilising income from the horse and greyhound fund towards the implementation of the highest possible standards at kennels and racing facilities across the country.

I recommend and seek the support of the Seanad for the increase in this fund overall in order that both these sectors can be supported in the year ahead.

I acknowledge the contribution of the Minister regarding this issue. The fund he speaks about is really important. It creates an awful lot of employment opportunities in rural Ireland, and it is very important we support those opportunities. The racing fund the Minister speaks about has just been amended with the new budget. It is important we go through that process and make sure the fund is available for both the horse racing industry and the greyhound industry. It is a really significant driver in our rural economy. It is important that this fund is put in place to sustain the rural jobs that benefit from it. I think we sometimes take for granted these two industries and the impact they have in rural Ireland. Obviously, huge changes have happened within this industry in the last few years. There have been major changes as to how they deal with the issues pertaining to safety and how the animals are treated. There has been a huge focus there and a huge change, which has to be acknowledged.

I acknowledge the Minister's speech. This is a very important motion that we need to move on.

I rise to propose an amendment to the Government's motion. I find it very frustrating that year after year, we have this vote on funding for two specific sectors. I am deeply conscious that they are sectors that are held in great love and affection in certain rural communities in this country but they also have very serious animal welfare questions to answer, in particular in the greyhound industry with regard to the registration system that is in place and the delays in registration, occurring 12 weeks after the birth of a greyhound, and the lack of clarity as to the greyhounds that have died and the exportation of greyhounds. They are very fundamental and serious questions.

That is why the Labour Party is bringing forward an amendment to the Government's motion to ultimately call for an urgent review and indeed a replacement of section 12 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001, whereby we have this vote every year through which we now are about to give €99.1 million to the horse and greyhound sector in this country, a 46% increase over the decade, with no conditionality with regard to workers' rights in the sector and with very opaque conditionality with regard to animal welfare. I heard what the Minister had to say with regard to animal welfare, but there are no conditions attached to the funding in this scheme to the sectors. That we would have any funding without a clear statutory conditionality or responsibility is a fundamental problem.

To those who watch these issues much more carefully than I do, and from listening to them, I believe there are very serious issues now as to why we prioritise and give such funding to these two sectors at a cost of supporting other sports in this country. The argument is always that this is about supporting these two sports and the jobs associated with them, yet we see that the vast majority of the money goes into the prize money in these sports, with no cost-benefit analysis as to who is actually participating in the sports. This blanket fund that goes to the sector has to end and we need to have a grown-up conversation about supporting these two sectors. I often have say to people that this fund has been in place for only 23 years. The way some people talk about it, you would swear it has been there since the foundation of the State but it is very much a creation of a Fianna Fáil Government to support two sectors and put an enormous amount of money in when there are many other sports, like soccer, football and minority sports, that could do with that money and of course do not get it.

I say all this in the context that many people out there have greyhounds and participate in racing for the love of it. There are others who are involved because it is a business, and it is those for whom it is a business where I have a fundamental issue. My background is that we have a cup at home, the Bowman Cup, from a race my dad contested 50 years ago, from coursing. I am very conscious that there is a proud tradition among rural communities, but they did not need State money to organise those races or to put in place what was a race. Effectively, what we see now is the huge commercialisation of that sport, brought on by this fund and with very serious welfare questions that remain outstanding and that the Government has failed to answer and a serious need for reorganisation as to how any supports to any sports are organised in this country. I am conscious the Minister is obviously not the Minister for sport, but the rationale has so often been that horse racing and greyhound racing are sports and that this money is for those sports and goes primarily to prize money as opposed to anything else in the sector.

That is our amendment; I wish to move it.

As there is no seconder for the amendment, it cannot be moved, but it is acknowledged.

As there are no other contributors, I call the Minister.

I thank Senators Lombard and Sherlock for their contributions. The point I will make is that both of these are industries with significant employment and this fund is very important to both those industries in underpinning them. Other countries which are in the lead like we are, in particular as regards the horse racing industry, are also underpinned by national funding. In terms of maintaining those 30,000 jobs and maintaining the really important horse racing industry and our place within the global sphere in that regard, it is important that we continue to work together with the sector to make sure that it is world-leading. I acknowledge the support we have received from the Dáil and on Committee Stage as regards the fund. It is to be hoped it can pass at the Seanad today as well. Both funds are absolutely contingent on the highest of welfare standards in terms of the treatment of animals. I think it is fair to say that that is taken very seriously by all involved in the industry. It is really important that HRI and RCÉ continue their important work on the oversight and enforcement of that as well.