Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

Head 27 is a short and simple provision, but the explanation is somewhat longer. I imagine the committee members will be familiar with the issue. It is intended to deal with a potential loophole in the current welfare provision in respect of the ninth litter.

Section 11(3) of the Welfare of Greyhounds Act prohibits a person from causing or permitting a greyhound bitch to have more than six litters during her lifetime. However, it allows two additional litters if a veterinary surgeon certifies that the pregnancy and birth do not represent a risk to the health or welfare of the bitch. That brings the maximum to eight litters for greyhound bitches.

Section 11(4) of the Welfare of Greyhounds Act prohibits the keeper of the Irish greyhound stud book, namely, the Irish Coursing Club, from entering the progeny of litters in breach of that provision into the stud book. Let us suppose a greyhound bitch has a ninth litter. The progeny cannot be entered into the stud book. However, there is a potential circumvention of that provision. The potential circumvention is that a person could export the bitch to another jurisdiction, for example, a neighbouring jurisdiction. Then, the bitch could have a ninth litter there. There is an arrangement of reciprocity for registration in stud books between the UK and here. Therefore, technically there is a way around this provision.

We are providing two lines that close off this potential loophole. We are saying that progeny from the ninth litter or subsequent litters of a greyhound bitch shall not be certified to race. Therefore, even if a person circumvents the registration of the stud book and a bitch has a ninth litter, it does not matter where she has it because the progeny of that litter cannot race. This is a reasonably well understood problem and we are trying to close it off with this ninth litter provision. We are also saying that a person who races a greyhound in contravention of these provisions commits a criminal offence.