asked the Minister for Finance whether, in view of the fact that a large number of race companies are unable to carry on, and will be compelled to close down during the current year, and that racing as an industry in the Saorstát will soon become extinct, he will, in order to help the companies to carry on profitably and re-employ those whose services had to be dispensed with as a result of the taxation imposed, return to the companies, as promised, half of the race-course betting tax.
CEISTEANNA.—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - THE RACE-COURSE BETTING TAX.
I am not aware that a large number of race companies are unable to carry on. I understand that since the abolition of the entertainments duty on horse-racing practically all the race companies which had fixtures last year have applied for fixtures in the current season, and that in most cases where admission charges to the public have been reduced, consequent on the abolition of the tax, there has been an increase in attendances. Until there has been further experience of the effects of the abolition of the entertainments duty on horse-racing, and until I am satisfied that various race executives are making serious efforts to contribute towards a solution of the problem with which they are confronted, I would not be prepared to recommend that part of the race-course betting tax should be returned to the companies.
If the Deputy will refer to my statements in the Dáil on 3rd June, 1926, and 21st April, 1927, and to my reply to a question asked by Deputy Shaw on 4th November, 1927, he will note that the promise I made was that if it should be found that the yield from the betting duty was unexpectedly large, or that the tax was seriously affecting in an adverse way the attendance at race meetings, and consequently the funds available for keeping racing going, I would be prepared to recommend that provision should be made for increasing stakes. I am not satisfied that either of the conditions on which the promise was based has been fulfilled.