Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

Yes, and there will be authorised officers. Later we will come to the powers of authorised officers and where and how they can operate. We can discuss it then in greater detail.

Next is the controls to be applied by an owner, trainer or keeper of greyhounds. This is an important general point. This is not just about the policemen, but also about the participants in the industry having their own responsibilities and obligations. We can, by regulation, require owners and trainers to regulate their own behaviour. Again, it is an empowering provision to allow regulations to be made in that area. Skipping over to (j), it provides for the sampling of greyhounds at any location and at any stage in a greyhound's life. In (k) we refer to powers to approve laboratories and methods of analysis. I will outline what might happen. The board might find a substance or a result in its own or another laboratory. However, somebody might have a sample tested in a private laboratory using an entirely different method of analysis and might arrive at a different result. Again, it means that the official finding can be undermined unless there is a provision which allows the board to state that if somebody is going to challenge the finding, they must use its technique or an approved laboratory.

Provision (l) is something the board is doing at present anyway, which is publishing details of adverse analytical findings in respect of a prohibited or controlled substance. That is a strong measure. It is not the application of a sanction. We are simply saying that if there is an adverse finding, it is published. It does not imply that somebody is guilty of anything, but the details of an adverse finding will be published. That is strong medicine but it is something the board has already started to do.