Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

General Scheme of the Greyhound Industry Bill 2017: Discussion

4:00 pm

Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

On head 5, there are two statutory instruments that establish the control committee and the control appeal committee. The need for them is obviated by these heads because we are now establishing these committees in primary legislation. Therefore, this head provides for their repeal at the appropriate time. Again, it is pretty straightforward.

On head 6, we have decided to change the name of the organisation to Greyhound Racing Ireland. We are open to hearing the committee's views on this. This change does not obviate the need for positive action on a range of other fronts. We are not suggesting that but we believe it could be a positive first step for the organisation following the promulgation of this legislation. It does not strike at the core or substantive issues in the Bill but we believe it would be positive. We are entirely open to hearing the views of the members of the committee on this point.