Horse Racing Ireland has revealed that its race "attendance" figures are not actually the number of people who pay to attend races. And the body - which has received over €1.3 BILLION of taxpayers’ money since 2001 - maintains that it does not have “a breakdown of paying attendees”.

The astounding revelation came to light further to a Dail Question from Paul Murphy TD (People Before Profit–Solidarity, Dublin South-West). A Horse Racing Ireland representative told him that the “figures for race attendees includes everyone who attends, paying and non-paying and industry attendees.”

The admission makes it clear that horse racing events attract substantially less people than Horse Racing Ireland’s wholly misleading statistics suggest.

In his question to the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, Deputy Murphy asked “if he will confirm that the Horse Racing Ireland published figures for race attendees include everyone who attends even those who gain free admission - for example trainers, jockeys, stable staff, owners, bookies and staff, catering staff, press and racecourse staff - and if the HRI will be requested to provide the amount of paying attendees to all events for the past two years, in comparison to the figures previously published by the HRI”.

Responding, a HRI representative stated: “A breakdown of paying attendees is not information that would ordinarily be held by Horse Racing Ireland.  Horse Racing Ireland holds details of total attendances for every race meeting however there is no split available by type of attendee. Each racecourse operates as a stand-alone commercial entity. The sharing of information around the breakdown of attendee types (paying, non-paying, sponsors, corporate clients, children etc.) is viewed as highly sensitive from a commercial perspective. The disclosure of such commercially sensitive information into the public domain could possibly jeopardise any competitive advantage individual tracks may have.”

Such a disclosure would also expose the considerably lower level of public support for racing.

While confirming to Paul Murphy TD that the attendance figures also include those involved in horse racing, there appears to have been an attempt by Horse Racing Ireland to hide this in its “2021 Factbook”.

The publication outlines that in 2021, due to Covid19 government guidelines, “there was no public attendance at any race meeting in the first six months of 2021” and that “the attendance figure at all meetings before July 6 is recorded as ZERO.” Numerous races took place in those six months but the “industry attendees” were not acknowledged in the “total attendance” figures. If an attendance other than zero was recorded, it would have made it immediately obvious that the attendance statistics do not relate exclusively to paying members of the public.

It emerged last year, that Greyhound Racing Ireland - like Horse Racing Ireland - has been presenting misleading “attendance” figures which were made up mostly of those involved in greyhound racing, including greyhound owners, greyhound trainers and bookies.

The already paltry attendance – which has been plummeting over the past decade – is now known to be a lot less, following a response to a Dail Question from Mick Barry TD. The inclusion of those involved in racing has been more than doubling the actual attendance figures and masking the true level of unpopularity of greyhound racing.

By how much are Horse Racing Ireland’s “attendance” figures being inflated by trainers, jockeys, stable staff, owners, bookies and staff, catering staff, press and racecourse staff? What percentage of the figure is people who actually pay to enter?

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is calling on Minister Charlie McConalogue - who has approved €78 million more in funding to Horse Racing Ireland for 2023 - to reveal the true attendance figures.

Since 2001, Horse Racing Ireland has received  €1,312,904,981 in government grants via the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. Much of that money ends up as prizemoney in the pockets of wealthy horse owners and trainers.

ACTION ALERT

Join us in contacting Minister McConalogue and asking him to uncover the true race attendance figure.

Charlie McConalogue
Minister for Agriculture
Tel: 01 618 3199 or 01 607 2000
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie; charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CharlieMcConalogue
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@McConalogue

Don’t attend races or bet on racing.

Demand an end to the government’s massive grants to horse and greyhound racing – more than a €1.6 Billion handed over since 2001, including €91 million for 2023. Contact the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Finance Minister now.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar

Tanaiste Micheál Martin TD
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD

Michael McGrath TD
Minister for Finance
Email: michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; minister@per.gov.ie
http://www.facebook.com/michael.mcgrath.1614
http://twitter.com/mmcgrathtd

Irish Government grants to horse racing

2001 €47,110,330
2002 €54,452,651
2003 €51,348,800
2004 €53,531,200
2005 €54,680,000
2006 €56,047,000
2007 €58,539,000
2008 €61,028,800
2009 €54,502,000
2010 €47,411,200
2011 €45,830,000
2012 €45,032,000
2013 €44,016,000
2014 €43,376,000
2015 €54,400,000
2016 €59,200,000
2017 €64,000,000
2018 €64,000,000
2019 €67,200,000
2020 €67,200,000
2021 €76,800,000
2022 €70,400,000
2023 €72,800,000

TOTAL: €1,312,904,981 (€1.31 Billion)

Irish Government grants to greyhound racing

2001 €11,777,583
2002 €13,613,163
2003 €12,837,200
2004 €13,382,800
2005 €13,670,000
2006 €14,012,000
2007 €14,572,000
2008 €15,257,000
2009 €13,625,600
2010 €11,852,800
2011 €11,460,000
2012 €11,258,000
2013 €11,004,000
2014 €10,844,000
2015 €13,600,000
2016 €14,800,000
2017 €16,000,000
2018 €16,000,000
2019 €16,800,000
2020 €16,800,000
2021 €19,200,000
2022 €17,600,000
2023 €18,200,000

TOTAL: €328,166,146 (€328.1 Million)

Source: Department of Agriculture