Why aren’t people going to horse races anymore?

If it gets public funding it does matter. 

Thanks for the detailed reply. I agree they needed to redevelop and modernize the stadium. The renovation was alright. Still windy but can’t complain about that in July I guess. The races in England seem to be doing fine but don’t have any numbers to back it up. The field is always a bit uncompetitive for the Irish Derby and kind of small - not sure if there’s a way to get more horses to compete but not sure that will increase attendance too much. 

The numbers for the likes of Royal Ascot, Cheltenham and Aintree are holding their own (Though I think Cheltenham are taking a risk on this with their ticket pricing), day to day attendances are down a bit. Regarding the Irish Derby field size, you are never going to get 30 horses competing in the race itself due to the nature of it - It's the biggest group 1 in the country which costs a fair bit to enter and realistically most horses know where they stand in the pecking order already after the Derby trials and the Epsom Derby. It's more about quality than quantity. But, as you say, I'm not sure the number of horses impacts the number of people coming in the door. 

So, you'd be advocating for abolishing the IDA then? 
 

The IDA gets public money to encourage companies to locate to Ireland which provides employment for people and also generates tax income. The government invests money into racing which provides employment for people and generates tax income. Additionally, it also provides positive profile abroad for the country. 

To address your points:

There is very little public good from horse racing as an industry: The tens of thousands of people employed directly or indirectly in the horse racing industry would probably disagree on this. 

Why does horse racing get the vast majority of the betting tax: Historical reasons, goes back to when the majority of bets were placed on racing. Now the landscape has changed somewhat, football needs to build its case that investment can also create an football industry that will employ people. And that is separate to the fact that the government should be giving more to grassroots football without any conversation about betting tax income. 

Why don’t football owners get a tax break like horse race owners: Do football club owners pay tax on prizemoney? (As piss poor as it is). 

What does horse racing do for working class areas: Employs people -  do you think farriers, jockeys, work riders, people who work in horse feed factories etc  are born with silver spoons in their mouths? 

other than cause addiction in some instances: How exactly does the racing of horses cause addiction? People get addicted to gambling. 

Closed shop ??

Why are people in the horse racing industry and related industries less worthy than those people you reference ?

The Arts Council f**ked up last week and told 141 people they had won €25k each. People were destroyed over that mistake, literal life changing money for these artists to pursue their craft. To give all those people the €25k would have cost approximately 3.5m. This article says HRI are getting 73m - https://www.racingpost.com/news/budget-boost-for-horse-racing-ireland-with-government-funding-to-rise-to-72.8m-ayZxi7N7tbTZ/

So forgive me if I think yeah, there are a lot of people around the country that are more in need of government subsidies  

You want to throw in nonsense about our profile abroad about feckin horse racing, who are we impressing, the lads in Ascot? I’m sure they’re heavily invested in Irish society. Whereas our artists be it literature, film, music, whatever are known the world over and artists in this country are treated like sh*te

Give me An Cailín Ciúin every day of the week over seeing Willie Mullins line his pockets 

You can only enjoy horse racing if you bet on every race you watch.  Absolutely pointless sport apart from that.  

Also why do the horses not get the trophy?  Why is the jockey congratulated?  They are only passengers.