THE Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney is bullish about the prospects for the Irish racing and breeding sector and is predicting growth in employment of a third in the coming years.

Speaking as the guest of honour at the HRI awards in Leopardstown, he told the audience that “there are 15,000 people in employment now and it can expand back up to 20,000, which is what we had in the so-called good times.”

Referring to the recent increase in funding in the Budget for racing, he was keen to point out that he and his Government colleagues were convinced about the viability of the sector.

He explained that he was not trying to be popular but that rather he saw this increase, and the promise of two further increases, as “an investment in a sector that has the capacity to expand and employ more people.”

While maintaining an upbeat tone to his speech, he also issued a caveat.

“As with every sector it is essential that the racing industry is run efficiently and that we are open all the time to new and better ways of doing things and, most importantly, to outside scrutiny.” Changes are expected in the Horse Racing Ireland Bill currently making its way through the legislative process.

The Minister is keen to learn the outcome of next week’s board meeting of Horse Racing Ireland where the new strategic plan for 2015 is expected to be agreed.

Speaking in advance of the Minister’s arrival HRI’s chairman Joe Keeling said that he had made progress on the priorities he had outlined last year, namely to reduce costs for participants in the sport and to increase prize money. Giving little away, he did indicate that more of the same could be expected in 2015. “We will go further when we finalise our budget for 2015 at our board meeting next week,” he said.