Irish racing's Tote revolution is being targeted to begin at Naas in just over three weeks' time but 250 part-time Tote staff could still put a put a halt to what Denis Brosnan yesterday called "the single greatest challenge facing the Irish Horseracing Authority."
Brosnan, the IHA chairman, declared that May 29th will be the first outing for the new American Auto-tote system. A 10-year contract was signed with the American firm last year to replace the current Tote system which is widely viewed as unsatisfactory.
Its replacement has been a cornerstone of the IHA's strategic five-year plan and although the technical side of installing the new system has been ironed out, the rationalisation plan for Tote staff has met with a hiccup.
The part-timers, who are an integral part of the Tote operation, turned down a recent IHA offer regarding staffing levels and pay. A revised offer is being prepared and while the IHA are encouraged that their previous offer was rejected by a margin of less than 20, a union spokesman yesterday said they were far from reaching agreement.
"At the last ballot, the members were totally opposed. No new offer has been put to us yet and while I am sure there probably will be one, a lot of people are affected by this and it's far from certain that it will be accepted," said SIPTU spokesman Liam Peppard.
Peppard also said that if the IHA go ahead with their plans on May 29th without the agreement of his members, an industrial dispute is likely.
Brosnan, who was speaking yesterday at the official announcement of the IHA's annual report, said: "I am confident and optimistic that the final discussions with the employees will be successfully completed."
In the long term, the IHA want Tote expenses to be at 12 per cent of turnover compared to its current rate of 18 per cent. The new Autotote system will be centrally based at Ballymahon in Co Longford and 330 newly designed terminals will be available for on-course and off-course use.
These ATM-type terminals which can be used by customers on a touch basis will produce clearer and more detailed betting slips and will allow inter-track betting in Ireland. An interactive voice response system is planned to begin in July to allow a better service for telephone punters.
The IHA's acting chief executive Martin Moore described 1998 "as a year of progress and achievement" when attention was diverted to the IHA's annual report.
Total betting was up 10.7 per cent to £115.9 million with the bookmakers turnover up 10.2 per cent to £89.3 million. Attendances were up 4.7 per cent to 1,218,953 and total prize-money was up 1.5 per cent to £16.6 million.
"The IHA surplus for the year was £0.623 million which exceeded the target set in the Strategic Plan and the key performance statistics for the industry continued to show growth and improvement," added Moore.
