Mr. Denis Healy:

I will expand on what Mr. Nyhan said. On traceability, a greyhound microchip scanning project is well on the way to completion. It is almost developed at this stage. It is very advanced. The benefit of the project is, as Deputy Cahill mentioned, our officers will be able to go into establishments that have greyhounds to make welfare inspections. They will have a list of the greyhounds that should be on the premises because they should be on a database. Equally, the system will be able to record what sampling was undertaken to test for substances, whether prohibited substances or substances for therapeutic use. The database will also be able to track the treatment records, as well as racing and trial history. In reality, what is achievable - it will require a lot of work, but it is achievable - is the provision of a lifetime record for every event in a dog's life. It will extend from microchipping, marking, racing, sale, export and transfer all the way until such time as the dog is given away for nothing on retirement and eventually put to sleep or dies a natural death.