I move: "That the Dáil agree with the Committee in Financial Resolution No. 16." This is the Resolution which exempts all outdoor games and sports from entertainments duty as from the 10th May of this year. The form of exemption is that which was adopted in 1925 and therefore it does not include games and sports in which animals and mechanically-propelled vehicles participate.
In Committee on Finance. - Resolution No. 16.
I want to make briefly a plea which I made to the Minister last year with regard to greyhounds. The Minister gave us a very small concession last year. I want to point out to the House that this is one of, if not the only outdoor sport, which now has to pay tax. I want to repeat just a few of the statements which I made last year with regard to greyhound racing. The first matter I should like to impress on the House is that greyhounds are largely bred and reared by small farmers and labourers and that in many cases they bring in a fairly considerable revenue to small farmers and labourers in the rural parts of Ireland. Again, I think it might be said, and said with a great deal of truth, that greyhound racing is the poor man's sport. It is sport in the real sense of the word. It might also be said that the greyhound racing tracks are, so to speak, the show grounds for the dogs. The Minister knows quite well that greyhounds have been sold within the last few years in this country at prices ranging from £20 to as much as £1,200 and £1,400 each.
I grant you that the number of dogs that will be sold at £1,000 is not many, but a great number of dogs have been sold at handsome prices as many members of the House know. Some members on both sides of the House know a great deal more about the matter than I do and have personal experience of it. I know members of the House who have themselves got very substantial prices for greyhounds. The first preliminary to the sale of a dog is that he must, so to speak, be able to show his paces and be timed. I have not the figures by me at the moment, but speaking from recollection I think I was able to show the House last year that, prior to the start of what is called the economic war, the value of greyhounds exported from this country amounted to as much as £500,000. The Minister I think was not prepared to admit the accuracy of that figure, but the figure which I quoted was the figure which had been given and which was submitted to the Minister's Department by the Irish Greyhound Club or at least—I forget the exact title at the moment—the body in charge of the Greyhound Stud Book in this country. I am satisfied from the information which was supplied to me that that figure is approximately correct. I also quoted last year prices which had been obtained for individual greyhounds and I gave the names of these greyhounds and the places at which they were sold.
The real point I want to stress in this matter is that greyhound racing is a clean, outdoor sport. It is essentially a poor man's sport, and I want to submit that it is not a sport that should be taxed, particularly in view of the fact, as I have already stated, that the Minister has remitted the tax on practically all other forms of outdoor sport, the only other exception being horse racing. I am not quite sure whether the tax on horse racing remains. I do not think it does. I think the Minister has remitted that also. I should like to hear from the Minister the case for the retention of the tax on greyhound racing. I do not exactly know what it would cost the revenue to remit the tax in full, but I do not think it would be very great. I think the Minister ought to meet the House in the matter. I am satisfied that if there were a free vote on this matter, the tax would be remitted. Seeing, as I say, that it is practically the only outdoor sport that is being penalised in this way, I think if the Minister cannot see his way to a remission of the tax, he might at least consider leaving the question to a free vote of the House, that is, unless it is going to make a very great difference to the revenue and I do not suppose it is. I do not want to repeat all the arguments I put forward last year. I think the Minister knows the various points much better than I do because they were submitted to him by the representatives of the Greyhound Association.
I should like to second Deputy Morrissey's appeal in regard to the remission of this tax on greyhound racing. As Deputy Morrissey pointed out, this is now the only form of outdoor sport on which the tax remains. Deputy Morrissey referred to greyhound racing as the poor man's amusement. I should like to go further and say that it is not alone the poor man's amusement, but that it is the only way of exhibiting what is the product of the poor man's only industry, as far as livestock racing is concerned. It is essential to the poor man because just as horse racing is indispensable for the sale and exhibition of racehorses, modern greyhound racing has become indispensable to the breeder of greyhounds in this country for the sale and exhibition of his dogs. As an example of what greyhound racing has done in that respect, I might mention that it has been recently stated as a fact that the two best greyhounds in the world were produced in Ireland. If it had not been for the chance afforded of exhibiting these greyhounds on racing tracks in this country, they would probably never have been known or heard of. Apart from its affording an exhibition place for the breeders of greyhounds, I can class greyhound racing, as Deputy Morrissey did, as the amusement mainly of the poor man. I do not very often attend racing tracks, but whenever I did, I observed it was the poorer class mainly who attended these fixtures. They are mainly, as far as my experience goes, interested in the breeding of greyhounds.
I will admit that people other than greyhound breeders attend these races and that they are impelled by the gambling instinct that is natural to all of us. It is that particular attraction perhaps that helps to swell the attendance there, but if it were not for the large attendance, the racing could not continue and no opportunity would be afforded the poor man to exhibit his dogs. Anything that will help this industry is to be lauded. We have had considerable debate on various resolutions brought before the House to help industries. The remission of the tax on this particular industry will certainly help a live-stock industry which is mainly in the hands of the poorer people of the State. I would ask the Minister carefully to bear in mind what Deputy Morrissey has stated, all of which I very wholeheartedly commend to him.
I should like to impress upon the Minister the absolute necessity of relieving greyhound racing of any tax. I do so especially, because I am aware that in provincial towns those who are promoting this racing find great difficulty in carrying on. It might surprise a good many people to know that, although I live within 12 miles of a greyhound racing track in my own constituency, I have never been there yet.
Ditto here.
I do know this much about it, however, that there are 40 people engaged in various ways in the industry in that particular town. I know that the promoters find it very difficult to keep it going at the present time. Mind you, I do not associate greyhound racing very much with sport. I would say it is more of a business than a sport in so far as the people connected with it—the small farmers, labourers and everybody else who breed dogs—have only these places to exhibit their dogs in the hope of getting a remunerative price for them. I know it confers great benefit on the town I mentioned. As everyone seems to be sympathetic when an effort is made to deal with the unemployment problem, it is well to mention that a good many people are employed in this business, and I am sure it would not be the desire of the Minister or of any Deputy to do anything that would injure that employment. As the tax has been taken off horse racing and most other outdoor sports and amusements, I see no reason why an exception should be made in the case of greyhound racing. I am sure the Minister will agree that it is the unanimous voice of the House that he should accede to the request to allow this sport to be carried on without being taxed.
I should like to ask the Minister to leave this form of sport, greyhound racing and open coursing, free of tax. In winter there is open coursing at which young dogs are tried out. It is a form of sport that is enjoyed by large numbers of people who cannot follow more expensive forms of amusement. In summer greyhound racing is a popular form of sport. It is much cheaper than horse racing, and it caters for people who are in a small way financially. In villages in which there were two or three dogs five or six years ago, there are now 15 or 16 greyhounds, so that it is a promising industry. All these dogs have a value and this form of sport means a good deal for people who follow it. Where there are race tracks amusement is provided in the evenings for followers of these dogs. That is the case in the West of Ireland and in Galway where there are events on two evenings a week. In the interests of those who derive pleasure from this sport and in the interest of business, I ask the Minister to relieve it from this tax. The same people are to be seen at open coursing as are seen on racing tracks in the summer.
Everything that could be said in support of the appeal for the exclusion of greyhound racing from this tax has been said. I put it to the Minister that he should discriminate between open coursing meetings, which are annual fixtures in different districts and got up by public subscriptions from persons who patronise them and other gatherings. People should not be called upon to put their hands in their pockets again by paying taxes in order to keep local events going. The same thing applies to local horse-racing, where it is an annual event. The Minister might discriminate between what are voluntary or local events and commercial events. The latter are carried on as a business, and if they are of such a nature as would appeal from the revenue raising point of view, perhaps a raid might be made upon them. Local events that are not run on commercial lines should be exempt from this tax. That applies particularly to coursing matches and local point-to-point race meetings.
The Budget Resolutions ought to be taken seriously by Deputies who speak on these matters, and they ought to be sure that they understand them. I have been asked to exempt greyhound racing and open coursing from the tax, and in particular to discriminate in favour of open coursing. There is no tax on open coursing, and there is no tax on the great majority of greyhound race tracks, thanks to the exemption granted last year. I do not think there is any tax on the track that Deputy Curran mentioned at Clonmel.
I am glad to hear it.
If there is it is because it has not only a substantial attendance but is making a profit.
I hope the Minister's statement is true.
I think there are, in fact, very few tracks in this country paying any substantial amount of tax.
Any substantial amount?
Yes. I feel that most of them are almost completely exempt from tax, thanks to the concession given last year. It was a very substantial concession, and cost us a good deal of money, so much, in any event, that we could not contemplate extending it this year. In this discussion we have been told that this was the poor man's only way of exhibiting his greyhound. I suppose at least 70 per cent. of the tracks pay no tax, or very little tax, so that, so far as they are concerned, and so far as any track within any reasonable distance of Deputy Bennett's constituency is concerned there is no barrier placed in the way of the poor man who wishes to exhibit greyhounds on tracks. As for the other tracks, they are mainly those which are making substantial profits. Notwithstanding the imposition of the entertainments tax the attendance at any of them has not appreciably diminished. In view of that fact, I would like Deputies, when this matter comes to be debated again, to show me how the tax is preventing the poor man from exhibiting greyhounds. The meetings that are being held are more numerous than ever, the same stakes are being offered, and owners continued to run dogs at them in considerable numbers. Any poor man with dogs worth exhibiting is certainly not debarred from exhibiting them by this tax. The problem Deputies ought to address themselves to is: if we remit this tax, and give a further concession, how are we going to make up for the loss of revenue? Deputies cannot come to the House and say that if this were left to a free vote they are sure the concession would be carried unanimously, as also would a proposal to do away with the entertainments tax altogether. There is not a single proposal, in this or any other Budget, that would not be rejected with the same unanimity if it were left to the free vote of the House, because Deputies who vote in that way could vote in quite an irresponsible manner. It is quite easy to get up here and to make speeches asking us to forego revenue, but it is a much more difficult and unpopular thing to tell us how to make up the revenue which we forego.
What revenue does the Minister expect from this proposal?
At least £6,000. As I have said, the greater portion of this revenue comes from the tracks in the big cities, where there is considerable attendance at the greyhound racing, where there has been no noticeable decrease in that attendance consequent on the imposition of the tax and where, once more, substantial profits are being made or should be made. I think that there is less ground for granting a concession of this sort in the present year than there is for granting other concessions. There are many other things which I should like to do in the Budget—things which, I think, would commend themselves to a much larger proportion of the population than this concession would. We are not able to do these things for the simple reason that we have to make ends meet.
Question put and agreed to.