THE Department of Agriculture’s most senior official has backed the Government’s support for the racing industry and made clear that the funding does not affect the amount of money given to sports.

Racing is due to receive €73 million from the Department of Agriculture this year in the form of a grant to Horse Racing Ireland. Last month the Football Association of Ireland sent a commissioned report to the Department of Sport, claiming that racing was the only ‘sport’ funded by betting tax, which the report claimed was ‘ringfenced’ for racing.

Questioned about the report’s claims by the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee this week, the Department of Agriculture’s secretary-general Brendan Gleeson said: “There was a hypothecated tax up until 2009 but the reality is that, what happens now is, there’s a negotiation in the context of the normal estimates process every year and funding is made available through the estimates.

“Now, part of the justification for that is that the cost, the full cost of the estimates, is more or less covered by the betting tax but there’s a tenuous link between the funding that is provided now and the betting tax. This betting tax is not taken out of one account and put into another account.”

Gleeson said he believed that the Irish racing and breeding industry justified the Government’s annual investment. He said: “The question is, is it the right thing to do, and I am pretty convinced by the argument that it’s a critical piece in making Ireland an attractive place to bring horses to race, to train horses and to do the things that contribute to that wider economic benefit.”

Total prize money for Irish racing this year is estimated to be €69 million. Horse Racing Ireland contributes approximately €42 million of this figure and the rest is made up of entry fees from racehorse owners and sponsorships.

“It’s a competitive sector,” Gleeson said. “We are competing with France and the UK and Australia and the US, and it’s the prize money that brings in trainers and owners. And it’s those high-quality horses being brought in for training that filters down the economy. So, that’s the basis for investment in the economy.”

He quoted statistics supplied by HRI for 2021 which showed that 25% of horses that raced won at least one race. Over 6,000 individual racehorses won prize money during the year, which equates to around 69% of runners.