'The industry is one of the country's biggest success stories' - Horse Racing Ireland unveils five-year strategic plan

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) has revealed a target to grow the industry's economic reach by more than 20 per cent to €3 billion by the end of 2028 as part of its five-year strategic plan released on the opening day of the Punchestown festival.

The plan, entitled 'Nurturing Success and Inspiring Participation', was presented by HRI CEO Suzanne Eade after speeches from chairman Nicky Hartery and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Martin Heydon.

Eade said: “This strategic plan specifies two clear objectives – to nurture success and to inspire participation. The Irish racing and breeding industry is one of the country’s biggest success stories. The horses owned, bred and trained in Ireland are the envy of the world, and that is a position we can never take for granted.

"The updated Deloitte report in 2023 demonstrated a 35-fold return to the economy on the annual government investment. Our goal is to grow this return year-on-year and by the end of 2028 to have increased the industry’s economic reach to €3 billion from the current €2.46bn. Driving long-term financial sustainability for the industry will stimulate expenditure and achieving this €3bn figure is very much within reach by maximising all revenue streams.”

HRI also underlined the significance of its social responsibility to the industry as a whole and pinpointed safety and care of human and equine participants as a key priority in the plan.

“Within the lifetime of the plan, we aim to deliver on big capital projects like a people campus, which will service the needs of the wider thoroughbred industry, and providing a pipeline of future human talent," Eade said. "The plan will grow a sustainable workforce and develop Ireland as a global centre of excellence for industry education and training.

“The exciting development of a new all-weather track at Tipperary racecourse will create domestic opportunities at all levels of the industry as well as providing the marketplace for Irish racing to grow its annual foreign direct investment, currently estimated to be more than €550 million per annum. We can expand opportunities for Irish thoroughbreds by growing national and international engagement, targeting new and existing markets. 

"Key goals, including enhancing safety and demonstrating in measurable terms a high quality of equine care at all stages of life and improving industry recruitment by raising standards of oversight, training and support, are a mainstay of this five-year strategy.”

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