Ms Jessica Reid:

On the sanctions question, I believe in some cases it can be harder to make a criminal case, especially for a welfare breach, than to impose an administrative sanction within the industry. We would like to see much higher fines for what are serious issues. We tend to see slap-on-the-wrist type fines of a couple of hundred euro here and there. For a lot of trainers, it is considered the cost of doing business at this point. We would like to see trainers who have significant breaches, whether in welfare, doping or other issues, banned from owning and racing dogs. At the moment, the sanctions are considered laughable within the industry because they are so minute in terms of actual repercussions. Anyone in the UK who is caught with a welfare or doping breach suffers much more severe penalties. This is not reflected in the Irish system.