Mr. Conor Dowling:

We have not had any commitments on it yet. There are different ways of thinking about it. Some of those involved in the databases would say that there is no need for a central database as such but that it is about communication between the different databases and whether the information is shared. From our point of view, if I am out in a field, scan a dog that has a microchip and I want to figure out who the owner is, and I have access to the database as an authorised officer, I first have to get into Europetnet to find out which database it is registered with and then I have to get into that database. It makes work on the ground and efforts to find the information more difficult. Even if there is no single database some sort of method of gathering all that information and having it accessible in one place would be beneficial.