Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 10b:

In page 14, subsection (1), between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following:

"(f) greyhounds should be exempt from the limit of six litters, subject to veterinary approval,".

Brood bitches in the greyhound industry rarely have more than three litters, unless they are very successful. Putting a limit of six litters on successful brood bitches in the greyhound racing industry would lead to the exportation of some of our best breeding bitches. If a bitch does not breed successful litters of greyhounds, there will not be a demand for her. She will not be marketable and will not have high value. She will not be used for further breeding. However, if she breeds winners and they have success on the track or coursing fields, there will be a big demand for them, not only in Ireland but also internationally. Greyhound breeding lines have been established over many generations. As I said earlier, they are well regulated through the DNA profiling of stud dogs and bitches. The information has been well recorded for everyone to see.

In a successful greyhound breeding establishment, when a bitch produces successful litters and reaches the limit of six as specified in the Bill, there will still be a demand for her. The most obvious course of action will be for the owner of the establishment to export her to another jurisdiction, resulting in a loss to the Irish greyhound industry. It will not have the effect the Minister seeks which is to limit the number of litters a bitch will have because she will continue to have them elsewhere. We believe the deciding factor as to whether a bitch should produce more litters should be veterinary approval based on the health of the dog. That is a decision for the owner and the vet in each case. It is reasonable to exempt greyhounds from the limit of six litters subject to veterinary approval and we hope the Minister will accept the amendment. We do not want to encourage the export of the most successful brood bitches to other jurisdictions, as it would obviously have a serious impact on the greyhound industry.

Amendment No. 10c reads:

In page 14, subsection (1), between lines 39 and 40, to insert the following:

"(g) greyhounds should be exempt from the requirement that a bitch is not to be mated inside 12 months from the previous litter.".

The season cycle of a bitch may vary. As drafted, the Bill does not show a clear understanding of the breeding cycle of a bitch. If a bitch had puppies in January, she might not come into season for ten months in October. If she has to wait until she comes into season again after that, it will be 22 months between litters. As drafted, the provision could lead to a gap of two years between litters, which leads to questions about the viability of breeding successful greyhound pups. If we are to limit the number of litters and the time between having a litter and mating again, it will have an enormous impact on the international reputation of good racing dogs produced in Ireland, which would be a serious backward step. I, therefore, ask colleagues on all sides of the House to consider reasonable amendments to correct the wording used in the Bill.

Amendment No. 14a reads:

In page 15, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:

"(2) Greyhounds registered through the Irish Coursing Club should be exempt from the micro-chipping requirement".

As outlined previously, greyhounds are tattoo marked and registered by the Irish Coursing Club. They are easily tracked through the forms of identification used, as are their owners and breeders. We now have an additional requirement in this legislation to micro-chip them. If the micro-chipping were universal, one could say there was some logic in the argument, but it is not. The micro-chip that might be introduced in this legislation does not have universal recognition, and these dogs race in venues throughout the world. There is no requirement for a micro-chip for greyhounds because they already have body markings in the form of tattoos on their ears and DNA profiling that I would say is better than most breeds going back generations.

I understand, and the Minister might clarify this, that the Department and the Minister's officials admit that the working group established in 2005, to which he has so often referred, agreed unanimously to exempt the greyhound industry from micro-chipping. The working group in which the Minister put so much faith in all his argument until now unanimously agreed to exempt the greyhound industry from micro-chipping, yet we see there has been a turnaround in the Bill as drafted in that micro-chipping for greyhounds is included in it.

There is much confusion about who and what the Minister is listening to with regard to this Bill. He seems to be listening to everybody on the one side rather than the reasoned representative views of those in the greyhound industry. For that reason we are tabling this amendment that greyhounds registered through the Irish Coursing Club should be exempt from the micro-chipping requirement. It is an unnecessary requirement because identification of greyhounds is already well established and properly managed. We believe the amendments are reasonable and hope that some of the Members on the Government side or the Minister will support them.