Horse trainers and breeders coming to Ireland to look into buying horses have been paid more than €400,000 in travel expenses, the Sunday Independent has revealed.
The 5 March 2023 report by Maeve Sheehan outlined that Irish Thoroughbred Marketing - which is a subsidiary of taxpayer-funded Horse Racing Ireland - “put €402,000 towards the travel costs of 894 trainers and bloodstock agents as part of an industry programme to encourage foreign investment”.
This included €107,200 in hotel costs and €65,000 on transport.
The agency also “paid an additional €12,000 towards the costs of private individuals looking to buy a horse here, bringing the total spend on foreign buyers to €414,000”.
According to the Sunday Independent report, HRI maintained that “all of the 894 buyers made a sale”. The report noted, however, that “trainers and bloodstock agents from overseas are allowed to claim expenses whether or not they made a purchase and individual private buyers are also entitled to some of their costs back”.
A Freedom of Information request from the Sunday Independent to Horse Racing Ireland uncovered details about Irish Thoroughbred Marketing's expenditure on events promoting the horse racing industry.
€98,562 was spent on 14 events in the USA, UK, Middle East, Europe and at sales and race meetings around Ireland, “averaging around €7,000 per reception”.
The Independent report went on to reveal that horse racing's “total promotional spend last year was €674,000”.
Horse Racing Ireland has received more than €1.3 billion in government grants to-date (€1,312,904,981), including €72.8 million for 2023. It's time for the government to stop squandering scarce public funds on this horse-killing gambling activity.
Read the full Sunday Independent report - Trainers and agents on trips to buy Irish horses recoup €414,000 in travel costs
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/trainers-and-agents-on-trips-to-buy-irish-horses-recoup-414000-in-travel-costs-42370459.html
ACTION ALERT
Don’t attend races or bet on racing.
Demand an end to the government’s massive grants to horse racing. 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
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/michael.mcgrath.1614
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mmcgrathtd
Watch the BBC Panorama documentary “The Dark Side of Horse Racing”
https://youtu.be/VlpQhJFd5Bo
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)
Source: Department of Agriculture