HORSE Racing Ireland [HRI] has been cleared to borrow €34 million to fund the construction of the new all-weather track at Tipperary.

The business case for the project was finally approved by Government last week and work is expected to start in the first quarter of 2026. Tipperary’s fixtures for next year are all likely to be redistributed to other venues.

Addressing the all-party Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture this week, Minister Martin Heydon said: “I was delighted to be able to give consent to Horse Racing Ireland to enter into a commercial loan facility for €34 million to fund the development of phase one of an all weather track in Tipperary.

“The need for an all weather track in the south of the country has a very strong business case. Dundalk is a long way to have to go from Munster on a Friday night.”

The Minister was in front of the Committee seeking approval for the 2026 Government grant to Horse Racing Ireland and Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ), the greyhound racing authority.

Both bodies will share €99.1 million next year, the same figure as for 2025, with HRI getting 80% of that sum, in accordance with the 2001 Horse and Greyhound Racing Act.

Fund review

That mechanism has been called into question by some politicians in recent years, prompting the Department of Agriculture to agree to commission an external review of how the fund operated.

This week Minister Heydon updated the Senate, saying: “Following a request from the Committee of Public Accounts, my Department commissioned an external review of the governance of the fund and the bodies in receipt of moneys from it in the context of the current legislative and policy framework.

“This review has been completed, and a copy of the final report was sent to the Committee last week. One of the report’s key recommendations is to increase the share of the fund ring-fenced for welfare purposes over the medium term.

“I assure the House that my Department will work with the bodies to implement this and other recommendations contained in the report in the coming months. Accordingly, I am seeking Senators’ support to ensure that HRI and RCÉ receive the funding provided for in budget 2026 and that the important role played by these industries and the economic activity they generate will be sustained into the future.

“I look forward to making public the report that was requested by the Committee of Public Accounts and which I have submitted to it and the relevant bodies. I will implement the recommendations on increasing that contribution. That will not be an issue because both sectors are going over and beyond what has been required of them.”