Mr. Darragh O'Loughlin:

It arose out of discussions I was having with the director of integrity or regulation in the BHA. We have regular interactions with them in professional forums such as the European Horserace Scientific Liaison Committee, of which Dr. Hillyer is a member, and various other similar fora. On the fringes of that we had discussions because, as the Deputy will know, many Irish horses go over to the UK and many British horses come here. We try to encourage that flow back and forth. We thought it could be useful as a way of demonstrating confidence in each other's testing regimes if we were to go testing together. Their director asked that Dr. Hillyer would get in touch with the chief veterinary officer in the BHA and set something up. Dr. Hillyer might explain how it came about it.