Victor Boyhan Challenges Funding Conditions for Racing and Greyhounds

Thank you, thank you. First I want to welcome the Minister and his team and I suppose I'm going to be short and brief and concise. What are we looking at? We're looking at the horse racing and the greyhound industry. I took the time today to read and have them in front of me the parameters letters issued by your department. One to Miss Susan Ede, dated the 4th of February 2025, and to Mr Tim Lucy, CEO of the Irish Racing Board. You'd be very familiar with them. Clearly these letters set down conditionality in relation to the funding. It raises a number of concerns and I'm just going to briefly go through a number of them. So there's a whole load of conditions and just to put the context from our earlier Senator speaking, I mean for the racing industry we're talking about 63.282 million, of which 80% is prize money. 80% is prize money and 20% is what's called integrity services. So I just think that gives context. It's a lot, a lot of books, a lot, a lot of money. And clearly it is right and proper that we would have some sort of measurable key indicators and performance. So Minister, the first question I'm asking you, you'd be familiar with this letter of parameters letter issued by your department. It raises a number of concerns and I'm just going to flag some of them. So the key KPIs are in it, commitment to the Coral race course in your own heartland of your own constituency, that the HRI must continue to engage with the registration within your department and raise a number of issues there. Financial reporting requirements and corporate governance issues and concerns around this particular body. The certificate of assurances. There are a number of certificates of assurances required. And then, of course, the thoroughbred welfare. And so that's an important part. But so I just want to raise that because I would like you to give some assurances here to the committee. I mean, if you look down at the breakdown for the drawdown, this is cash up front. So in January 25, it was over 8 million, 15 million in February, 7 million in April, 10 in May, 12 million. And so, I mean, jeez, any bank manager would be thrilled coming in with this sort of hard cash. I support the sector. I support, I understand your ambition. You're a man from the county of Kildare. I recognise all your commitments and the government's commitments. So I've not an issue with the industry itself. But I do have an issue. If you're issuing a parameters letter, you need to assure yourself, as the minister in charge of the bookstops at the EU, is everything in compliance with that. I don't have the time to go through the dogs, but there's a similar letter, you'd be familiar with it. So we really should be getting assurances from you that there is full compliance. And if there are issues in failure to comply with the parameters letter, and I see you running your eye through it there, you might just reassure us or tell us if you have any concerns. I suppose I want to make one ask. Why is it that the Irish sports horse is not included in any funding? Why is it that, you know, we saw a public outcry in RT Investigates in relation to the Irish sports horse, which is also a very important factor in our business here. We see that the Irish sports Ireland is not a regulatory body and there's no statutory powers. There's the International Federation for the Equestrian Sports Commission to review on animal welfare. You know the findings, as I do. That's okay, because I can always write to the Minister tomorrow and get these answers. I'm on the record of asking the questions. That's critically important. And I have an opportunity in Shannadair tomorrow also for a two-hour slot to ask the Minister further questions. It might give him some time to reflect if he's difficultly answering those questions. But what I'm saying, Minister, I support the principle totally, but I want you to be able to reassure us, and I know you will want to do so, about it. And I'd also like to consider, can we take some money from this enormous fund and feed it into, shall we say, Horse Sports Ireland? But I think the Irish sports horse is a huge component that doesn't have the same sources of cash that are coming into these two sides. And is there a possibility that we could run a pilot scheme or a trial scheme next year and see how we can get additional money into there? There are my thoughts. Thanks. In the brief time I've left, I'd like to thank Senator Boyne for those observations. First thing first, this is the letter to Mrs Anne Ede, and obviously, as you've highlighted, there's one to Tim Lucy as well for RCE. And this is exactly right and proper. This is what we should be doing, outlining terms and conditions that, with a very significant amount of state money, the requirements that are on HRI, in terms of how they account for that, the service level agreement that they need to have in place with IHRB, which they do, just putting down the financial reporting requirements that HRI must provide, my department with documentation in support of requests for drawdowns, the balance sheet, the cash flow statements, the annual progress report and strategic plan. I can absolutely reassure every member of this committee, everything is done in accordance to how it should be. But it wouldn't be right and proper that that money would go without us clearly putting to paper exactly what the requirements are. And just then to say, on the horse sport side, the funding that my department allocates to Horse Sport Ireland is separate, because the Horse and Greyhound Fund is for the thoroughbred sector. And Horse Sport Ireland is the sport horse, does fantastic work, and my department funds that to the tune, off the top of my head now, it's in around €5 million, I don't have that figure exactly at the hand now. And then the Department of Sport also fund Horse Sport Ireland for about another €1.5 million in general. It's up on, not far off, €7 million for the horse sport. And from my perspective, the element that the Department of Agriculture fund for the sport horse is the breeding element. And we do that there. And also there's a significant amount of the Horse and Greyhound Fund here that supports breeding in terms of the thoroughbred as well, because that is key agricultural activity. About 80% of the thoroughbreds that are bred in this country are produced by farmers who have four mares or less. So, you know, supporting that indigenous industry that is inextricably linked to agriculture is absolutely the right thing to do. I feel on the breeding side, we have great potential to do more. The value of the sport horse is phenomenal when you look at some of those international competitors. And then we have some great performers who are excelling on the international stage in the sport horse sector. So that's a sector that I'm happy, through my department, to fund separate to this. And that's very much from the breeding perspective, because that is core agricultural activity that's happening on farms. And just like with the thoroughbreds, there's many a farmer in this country that is a sport horse and is breeding out of them. And we give the supports and the grants from that side the Department of Sport and Minister Donovan will be happy to talk to you around the element of the funding they give, which is for the elite activity. So what you see happening at the Olympics, three-day eventing, show jumping, dressage, that elite high-performance element is funded by the Department of Sport. Thank you. Thanks.