Former Minister for Agriculture Ivan Yates caused many a head to nod in agreement when, during a recent address to the annual lunch of the Dublin Greyhound Track Bookmakers, he commented that the first priority for Greyhound and Horse Racing folk should be to have the respective industries returned under the umbrella of the Department of Agriculture.

The horse racing industry saw on-course betting increase by 14% to €237m in 2003, of which €183m was generated with the bookmakers.