THE €59 million in Government funds ear-marked for the racing industry in 2016 was rubber-stamped this week by an Oireachtas committee but not before a heated debate around Horse Racing Ireland and the developing sport of harness racing.

At Tuesday’s Agriculture Committee meeting Deputies Eamon Ó Cuiv (Fianna Fail), Martin Ferris (Sinn Fein) and Willie Penrose (Labour) threatened to withhold support for the Horse & Greyhound Racing Fund until they received assurances from Minister Simon Coveney that the Irish Harness Racing Association would receive some financial support.

Ó Cuiv and Ferris believe that Horse Racing Ireland used its influence to deny harness racing access to Dundalk Stadium until the Minister intervened. Dundalk staged a harness racing fixture in September. The deputies suggested that the Committee quiz representatives of HRI on their attitude towards harness racing but, following a brief private session, the Committee acceded to the Minister’s wishes and allowed the 2016 funding for HRI to go through. Next Tuesday the Committee will revisit the harness racing issue and could then summon HRI to answer questions.

The Minister also revealed during Tuesday’s session that he hopes to convince his cabinet colleague Michael Noonan to raise betting tax from the current 1% rate and that he has asked HRI to give more priority to funding for the Irish Equine Centre. The Minister compared the IEC building to “a 1980s primary school”.

Deputy Penrose questioned the merit of the current foal levy system, whereby the levy is based on the advertised stallion fee rather than the contract fee which is actually paid. The Minister accepted that it was “not simple” to find a truly equitable foal levy system and he said that while payment of the levy will become law once the HRI Bill is passed, “it is not going to be prescribed in the legislation how it is collected.”

The HRI Bill goes before a select Dáil committee on December 9th when only minor amendments at most are likely to be made. One of the most controversial aspects of the Bill is the inclusion of point-to-point racing, an amateur sport. HRI will, if the Bill is passed, handle the registration of pointers instead of the Turf Club. The Minister said this week: “Let me reassure you that nobody is changing anything on how point-to-points operate. Local hunt clubs will run them and the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee will decide when and where they are on.

“But €1 million of public money is being spent [on point-to-points] and the only change is that when you register a pointer you have to go through a central registry office which HRI operates. That money will automatically go back to the Turf Club. I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask for in terms of transparency.”