Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

The regulation of gambling is a matter for the Department of Justice and not for us so I am not sure we do it. Certainly, in the context of the funding we give to greyhounds, we insist that at least 10% of it is spent on welfare and integrity. In terms of the activities in Rásaíocht Con Éireann, RCE, 50% of sponsorships, 10% of admissions and 5% of net total profits are spent on greyhound care funds. They have opened a couple of greyhound care centres. A total of 2,234 greyhounds were re-homed in 2022. There is a panel for foster care; a greyhound support scheme to assist injured greyhounds; a confidential phone line now; more inspections of greyhound establishments; and a much better traceability system.

The Deputy and I had a chat about this before. Things are not perfect but I think the traceability system is much better than it was when we spoke before. RCE is moving into phase 2, involving whole-of-life traceability for dogs including birth, registration, their racing career, changes of ownership and location, microchip scanning project, the capture of bet data, the capture of medicine records, booster inoculations, health checks, sampling history and adverse analytical findings. All that will go into phase 2 of the traceability system.

It is not perfect but, if I might say so, maybe RCE does not get praise often enough. I think it has done a really good job in terms of improving the traceability system. It needs to be given credit for the good things it is doing. That does not mean that more is not needed. We impose that kind of parameter on the funding we give it. We insist that at least 10% goes on welfare and integrity. I think that de factoit puts more of it into welfare than that.