Setback for HRI as PAC seeks answers to €235m rights deal

At a meeting of PAC, chair Brian Stanley TD said that sharing out of funds from the media deal was “an issue” and that “smaller racecourses are being left behind”.

Kilbeggan Racecourse in Westmeath. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

THE Public Accounts Committee has questioned the fairness of Horse Racing Ireland’s media rights deal and whether smaller racecourses are being treated fairly in the distribution of fees.

In a significant development on Thursday, the powerful Oireachtas finance body said it will be seeking answers to a range of questions from HRI around the €235m deal agreed last month, on behalf of Irish racecourses.