Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----are at stake and at whom, unfortunately, the finger is being roundly pointed at. As the witnesses said, accusations are being made but proof is not being offered. At the same time, the witnesses are still suffering.

I opened my remarks the last day with the IHRB and the HRI. When you are in a public position or in any way involved in the public domain, the mantra of being innocent until proven guilty goes out the window. Once an accusation is made, you are seen as guilty in public opinion and you have to prove your innocence. Unfortunately, that is the world we live in these days. The accusations have been made.

There is a big issue here. I am not detracting from the so-called whistleblowers or from what people are saying, but they are not really backing it up. The IHRB, HRI and the witnesses have backed up today and told us about all the testing they have done. It is still not getting the answers. The thing is still not going away. What do the witnesses propose could be or might be done differently? There is considerable dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi stuff going on here.

It is time to stop slinging the mud and start coming up with solutions, in the interest of a world leading industry we are lucky enough to have here; in the interest of the witnesses' careers and investments, we need to start looking at solutions that will be accepted by the public. What do the witnesses suggest? Let it be in conjunction with the IHRB, HRI and all stakeholders within the industry. Where do we need to go and what do we need to do to prove the position to the people and restore confidence in those involved in this business?

I would like to hear from trainers on a question I have. There are many legal medicines and drugs for horses that are injured or sick. The witnesses are probably using them on a daily basis and have vets in their yards.

I would like to hear briefly from the witnesses about how they manage that within their yards and stay on the right side of the line at all times. The main thrust of what I would like to hear from them is what they would like to see happen to get back the industry's good name, which at the moment is wrongly damaged but damaged all the same.