When the debate adjourned, last night, I was dealing with some matters which seemed to me to be of more than ordinary importance in relation to this Bill. I was asking whether it was not necessary to include in the interpretation section a more precise definition as to what was meant by certain expressions which appear in the Bill. I wish to refer to that matter for a moment now before I go on to deal with other points, which, I think, are worthy of the attention of the House.
One of the questions which I raised is: What is the definition of an affiliated coursing club? What conditions must a coursing club fulfil in order to be entitled to affiliation? I think that is very important because any person who reads the report of the advisory committee must certainly be unfavourably impressed by the stratagems to which the standing committee of the Irish Coursing Club resorted in order to retain control of the affairs of that body. As these gentlemen are, apparently, under the Bill, going to be entrenched by law in the control of the greyhound industry it is surely of particular importance that we should ensure that they will not be able to adopt similar methods in the future to those which have enabled them to retain a grip on this industry during the past few years.
I have read the Bill carefully and it seems to me that the question of the right to affiliation is a matter which is going to be determined arbitrarily by the board. That is important, too, from another point of view. The membership of the club will comprise one representative member appointed by each affiliated coursing club entitled to hold coursing meetings authorised by the Irish Coursing Club. What is the basis of entitlement? The representative member must be appointed by a club which is entitled to hold coursing meetings. It seems to me that there should be some provision in this Bill stating what the basis of entitlement is. It is not set out in Section 36 nor, so far as I can recollect, anywhere in the Bill.
Another matter which I think is of importance is, even assuming that conditions are laid down which will ensure that all clubs properly entitled to be affiliated are affiliated and will receive a permit to hold coursing meetings, what assurance have we that the members representing the coursing clubs will have any real power to influence the policy of the executive committee and the policy of the board? I refer to that matter because I was refreshing myself by reading the report of the advisory committee which the Minister himself appointed, and I have been astounded by some of the strictures which were passed on the gentlemen who have been in control of this industry for so long.
Surely, having regard to the manner in which the meetings of the standing committee were conducted in the past and the manner in which the rules relating to the summoning of meetings have been wilfully ignored, it would seem in relation to the meetings of the executive committee, that there should be something in the Bill fixing a quorum in the absence of which meetings cannot be legally conducted. I have read through, as carefully as I could, Article 4 which deals with the composition of the executive committee of the club and I can see no reference in it to the fixing of a minimum attendance at a meeting as the quorum required to make a legally constituted meeting.
In view of the references in the report of the advisory committee as to the manner in which the meetings of the standing committee of the Irish Coursing Club were conducted in former years, it would seem of the utmost importance that we should have something in the Bill that would ensure that the same sort of hole and corner methods should not be continued in future in order to retain control of this industry. It is the control of the industry which is here involved.
When the debate adjourned, I was in course of referring to many references which had been made to the position of the licensed bookmakers and the apprehensions with which they are filled as to the future developments, unfavourably affecting their position, which are likely to take place. These gentlemen do not speak without considerable experience. There were in 1931 or 1932, efforts made here to set up totalisators as monopolies attaching to certain greyhound racing tracks. In anticipation that the licences to do so, which had been previously granted would become effective, certain of the greyhound racing tracks at that time initiated very drastic measures to prevent bookmakers from carrying on their legitimate business inside their premises.
The fears which the bookmakers entertain as to the future position under the control of a board constituted as proposed under this Bill are therefore not entirely groundless. I am sure the Minister would not wish, any more than I would wish, that people who have been carrying on a legitimate business over a great number of years should be detrimentally affected in any undue way by reason of the Minister's attempts to reform the controlling body in charge of greyhound racing and greyhound coursing. The bookmakers, as we all know, are unpaid collectors of revenue, zealous collectors of revenue. They have to be, because if they do not they are subject to very severe penalties which may even involve them in imprisonment. The great majority of the bookmakers, in fact 99.99 per cent. of them, do their duty by the revenue. They have become very profitable licensees of the Minister for Finance. I think it would be true to say that they collect something approaching £2,000,000 per annum on his behalf.
I think they are entitled to be sympathetically considered by the Minister and that to allay their fears he will prescribe in the Bill some safeguards which will ensure that their right to earn their livelihood and carry on their occupation will not be unduly and unnecessarily interfered with.
Deputy Finlay, when dealing with the proposals in the Bill, said it was proposed to establish a monopoly which would be far reaching in its effect. I doubt, indeed, whether ever before any legislation was introduced into this House which was so comprehensive in the extent of the monopoly powers which are conferred upon a body already in existence. Let us remember what the origin of the Irish Coursing Club was. It was set up, not by any Act of the Legislature, not I think by virtue of any plebiscitary authority which it might have derived from the assent of those who were interested in coursing or racing. By its own fiat, it set itself up to control greyhound coursing and greyhound racing in this country.