Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has stated that Irish racing needs to be aligned with its British and French counterparts in his address to the nation on Friday, the same day it was announced that racing's resumption was brought forward from June 29 to June 8.
Racing had been scheduled to return in phase three of the government's roadmap, which outlines the staggered reopening of businesses and social activities, but Horse Racing Ireland was successful in its proposal to bring it back a stage.
HRI has been refining its submissions throughout the past couple of weeks and Varadkar labelled the industry as a "big economic" sector in giving his speech.
He said: "Horseracing was never specifically mentioned in the plan we agreed back in April but now it is. Horseracing, behind closed doors, will be allowed to continue from June 8 and that's just taking into account what's happening in the UK and France."
Varadkar added: "This is a big economic sector, a lot of people are employed in it and it's worth nearly half a billion euros to the economy each year. Because people won't be able to travel to race meetings, the amount of movements happening are going to be limited.
"It's people travelling to and from their workplace essentially. It won't be open to spectators for the foreseeable future but it's a big economic sector with a lot of jobs and income. We need to be more or less aligned with what's happening in the UK and France in that regard."
Irish racing's return
Among the new protocols that will be enforced when fixtures restart behind closed doors in Ireland are:
- Only key personnel will be permitted to attend
- All attendees will be subject to health screening in advance and thermal temperature screening on arrival – anyone showing an elevated temperature will be denied access and be instructed to consult with their GP
- Mandatory wearing of face coverings for attendees, including jockeys, stalls handlers, medical professionals, security staff and those working inside
- Social distancing will be strictly enforced by a dedicated Covid-19 protocol officer at each fixture
The decision to move racing forward a phase was made at a cabinet meeting on Friday afternoon after HRI's proposals were approved by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) on Thursday.
It is understood that, among its revisions, the governing body needed to spell out in more detail the extent to which racing behind closed doors would be able to adhere to the various health measures involved in social distancing, contact tracing and numbers on duty at the track.
Fine Gael TD Peter Burke was the first to go public with the news on Twitter.
He tweeted: "Horse racing to return behind closed doors with strict protocols from June 8. Much needed certainty for the sector."
Burke elaborated on his tweet in a press release issued later in the afternoon, when he stated: "In rural Ireland, the industry provides a huge contribution to the local economy and as horse racing was declared essential early on in the crisis, the move to allow behind closed doors racing will not make any material difference in relation to protecting the health of our citizens.
"Horses continue to be ridden out, staff who look after those horses have been permitted to travel as far as necessary to get to their work and mares have been permitted to be transported across the country as long as the people dealing with the animals adhere to agreed strict social distancing protocols."
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