Simon Coveney says HRI Bill to go before Dáil next week

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has said he expects the Horse Racing Ireland Bill to appear before the Dáil before the end of next week and has robustly responded to any threat of possible legal action by the Turf Club over his controversial new legislation.

Although there has been no official public comment recently from racing’s integrity body in regard to the Bill, earlier this year the Turf Club chief executive said legal action was possible if the proposed legislation wasn’t changed, amid fears about the body’s regulatory independence and separate funding streams.

Denis Egan also accused Department of Agriculture officials of treating the Turf Club with "contempt" and stressed concerns about racing's integrity organisation being totally financially dependent on its administrative body, Horse Racing Ireland.

In two recent meetings, the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee in particular is believed to be unhappy in relation to fees collected from point to points, and how they are proposed to be processed, and the Turf Club's senior steward, Neville O'Byrne, has confirmed a submission is being prepared for the Minister.

Sensible amendments

Coveney said at the launch where plans for the redevelopment of the Curragh were revealed that he is in regular discussions with Mr O’Byrne and that he will consider any “sensible amendments” to the legislation.

“I’m certainly not going to respond to threats of legal action,” the Minister said.

“What I’ve said to the Turf Club, and everyone else, in terms of amendments, is if they are sensible and make sense we will accept them. If they don’t, we won’t.”

He added: “If people want to raise issues around legal action, that’s not going to impact on my view one way or the other. The legislation is sound in terms of legalities. It’s been through the Attorney General’s office. I don’t see issues there from a legal perspective.

“But that’s not to say we won’t take on sensible amendments.

“There are some issues in terms of guaranteed funding for the Turf Club that they want to protect and I don’t think are undermined by this. If we can reassure them by making reasonable amendment in that regard I would have no problem with that and I’ve said that to Neville O’Byrne.

“The Bill has been approved by Cabinet, so it goes through the processes and various stages and any appropriate amendments will be made between now and the Bill becoming an Act. We hope to get that done before the end of the year.”