Few agricultural events on centre’s website

A REPORT (Irish Examiner, July 25) on the Punchestown Event Centre quotes Liam Holton, sales and marketing director of Punchestown Racecourse and Event Centre, asserting that I made a factually incorrect comment about events at Punchestown at the PAC meeting of July 21.

The source of my information on the events was the Punchestown website (www.punchestown.com) which lists the following events from April 7, 2005, to the end of 2005: Our House & Garden Exhibition; Volkswagen Car Show; Musgraves Christmas Confectionery Show; Irish Commercial Truck Show; Oxegen Rock Concert; Kildare Growers Show; Corry Homebuilding Show; Nelton Woodworking Ireland Exhibition; Musgraves Chilled Food Show and McCann McGuirk Christmas Show.

Only one of these the Kildare Growers Show is connected with agriculture.

As the principal justification for establishing the centre was that it would be a key piece of infrastructure for the agri-industry, and would showcase the excellence of both Irish horses and cattle, it seems to me that the events listed do not stand up that case.

Maybe the Punchestown website is incorrect and significant agricultural events have been omitted.

Michael Noonan TD

Chairman

Public Accounts Committee

Dáil Éireann

Leinster House

Dublin 2.