Dept of Agriculture boss backs spending public money on horse and greyhound prizes

The State has paid out over €1.6bn to horse and greyhound racing via the horse and greyhound fund, which was set in legislation in 2001. File picture: Inpho/Presseye/Russell Pritchard

The head of the Department of Agriculture has said “he accepts the proposition” that spending public money on horse and greyhound racing prizes “is a good thing”.

Brendan Gleeson, the secretary-general of the department, told the Public Accounts Committee that “by and large” the contribution of the two sports to the economy was growing and investors who choose to operate within the infrastructure of Irish horseracing “could be in France, they could be anywhere”.

“They are attracted by the culture, by Ireland’s reputation for top quality bloodstock, by its reputation for having the best training facilities and trainers in the world,” he said.

He said the “critical question” was would that situation occur “without public investment”.

“I don’t think it would,” he said. “I’m pretty convinced by the argument that this is a critical piece of making Ireland an attractive place to bring horses to race here, to train horses.”

The State has paid out over €1.6bn to horse and greyhound racing via the horse and greyhound fund, which was set in legislation in 2001.

The FAI commissioned an examination of the fund. It was critical of the fact the fund is sourced from betting tax, despite only 55% of bets here being placed on those sports. That study, carried out by consultants KHSK in 2021, suggested other sports in Ireland were, in effect, “subsidising racing”.

Mr Gleeson disagreed that betting tax directly funds racing, adding such an inference is based upon “a tenuous link”.

“The money isn’t taken from the tax and given over,” he said, adding he believes the term ‘fund’ in terms of the annual budget for horse and greyhound racing “is a bit of a misnomer”. 

He said there was a "negotiation” each year and funding was made available from the department’s annual budget estimates.

He acknowledged, however, that the amount collected under betting tax each year does roughly match the size of the fund, with both totalling over €90m in 2022.

“It is part of the policy picture which supports the investment in these sectors,” Mr Gleeson said.

All told, more than €43m was paid out in prizes by Horse Racing Ireland in 2021, more than 60% of the amount allocated to HRI under the fund that year.

“We tell them they can’t spend more than 80% on prize money, then it’s up to them,” Mr Gleeson said. “There are flagship races which need prize money to attract entrants and that kind of thing."

He agreed it was feasible that “they could pony up more, and the State could pony up less”.

He denied there was “no accountability” on the part of Greyhound Racing Ireland and Horse Racing Ireland, in terms of how their statutory funding is distributed.

He said the “advantages are clear” as to the fund being split 80:20 between horse and greyhound racing each year, stating “it provides certainty” as to what level of funding both sports can expect to receive each year from the State.