THE TURF Club returns to the Labour Relations Commission on Thursday for talks with the officials who are threatening to strike on Sunday but chief executive Denis Egan still insists that cuts to the regulatory body’s spending have to be made.
Talks at the LRC second time round will begin at 10.30 on Thursday morning, just 72 hours before the Turf Club Officials Association intend to picket race meetings at Leopardstown and Clonmel if a resolution can’t be found to their dispute with the Turf Club over pay and conditions.
Denis Egan said yesterday that the Turf Club will approach the talks with an open mind but added: “It remains the case that we have to find €500,000 of cuts. There is no easy way of doing that. If there was, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in. But this has to be done to preserve jobs.”
The TCOA have been critical of Turf Club plans to train in temporary personnel to cover at the two meetings on Sunday if strike action does go ahead but the regulatory body still plans to have full teams of officials at Leopardstown and Clonmel. “We are going to the LRC on Thursday with an open mind and we will have to see what happens,” Egan added.
The Turf Club has had its funding from Horse Racing Ireland cut by €1.5 million in the last two years, from €7.9 million to €6.4 million, a result of government cuts to Horse Racing Ireland’s budget.
