Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 9 requires the Minister to report to the Houses of the Oireachtas on racing sanctions imposed by the control committee and the appeal committee for breaches of substance regulations in the previous calendar year.

Sections 44(20) and 49(6) set down provisions regarding the publication of all decisions of the control and appeal committees on all types of breaches of regulations under their jurisdiction, not simply breaches of substance regulations. All the decisions of these committees will be published on the board's website and in the sports press, as they are currently. I can see no merit, therefore, in the publication of a report in the manner set out in the amendment. It would place an additional and unnecessary administrative burden on the board and Minister without adding to the sum of knowledge already in the public domain. For this reason, I cannot accept this amendment. It is possible at any stage for the board to be requested to appear before it on foot of the information. This committee would probably be the appropriate one.