24 Oct 2014, 09:33
The new structures of Horse Racing Ireland must adequately represent the interests of the diverse stakeholders involved in the industry, according to a new report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
24 October 2014
The Committee identified the new statutory sub-Committee structure as providing for various stakeholders to ensure their voice is given regard to at Board level.
On the HRI’s corporate governance, the Committee questions whether the proposed reduction in the number of ordinary Board members from 13 to 12 is optimal, especially given the many different and diverging interests which the board aims to facilitate.
The Committee’s Report on the General Scheme of the Horse Racing Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014 was sent to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD last night (Thursday 23 October).
In its pre-legislative scrutiny, the Committee also says that there should be a clear division between the functions of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and the Racing Regulatory Body (RRB) so that there is no grey area and the responsibilities of each body do not impinge upon one another. The integrity of the industry, based on independence of regulation, must underpin new horseracing legislation.
The aim of legislation as set out in the General Scheme is to strengthen governance and transparency within horseracing, to clarify the respective roles of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and the Racing Regulatory Body (RRB), to improve accountability and control over State funding and to streamline the administrative functions of the two bodies.
Other issues which feature in the report relate to:
- Point to point racing and that any legislative changes that would impact on this hitherto successful aspect of racing should be very carefully considered.
- The Rules of racing function and that the legislation would bring greater clarity to the issue of imposing sanctions, specifying standards, goals and factors to be taken into account by the RRB;
- Negotiation of income from media rights, and that a proper reporting structure be put in place to ensure that the media rights committee report back to the HRI.
- Liability for the Foal Levy, and the potential loophole whereby British breeders could register their Irish born foals in the UK be addressed;
- The Horse and Greyhound Fund, and the introduction of the possibility for the Minister to withhold any or all of the instalments paid to HRI or Bord na gCon would be in keeping with standards of good governance and control of public monies
The Report also makes important observations in areas relating to prize money and the betting tax. While not a matter for this primary legislation, the Committee would welcome race track managers having more input with regard to setting prize money at their meetings, while changes in the betting taxes should achieve an outcome which ensures the industry is cost neutral to the Exchequer.
Committee Chairman Andrew Doyle says: “The Committee is pleased to have had this opportunity to feed into this significant piece of proposed legislation for an industry that has huge positive impact on the economy of rural Ireland in particular. This pre-legislative scrutiny has allowed Members of the Joint Committee to be more informed of the policy issues involved and has enabled us to provide meaningful input into the proposed legislation before its content and approach has been finalised. It has also given an opportunity and a public forum for interested stakeholders to contribute to the drafting of this proposed Bill in their national parliament.”
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