Dr. Andrew Kelly:

Yes.

With regard to criminal sanctions, there has to be a significant deterrent for greyhound owners, particularly for doping and welfare breaches. We would like to see criminal sanctions and significant penalties. There is a proposal that the fine be reduced from a class-A €5,000 fine to a €1,000 fine. Whether one receives the maximum fine is another issue. That is a decision for a court to make. We believe, however, a reduction of the penalty would be a retrograde step. Abandonment, which I am thankful we do not see very often these days, is another potential serious offence.

I believe I have answered all Deputy Penrose's questions. I shall move on to the questions of Deputy Martin Kenny. He asked me to state the current norm for the number of litters. I am not sure what the average number is. I do not know whether Mr. Conor Dowling would know. With regard to sanctions, there has to be a significant deterrent. There is the option within the draft Bill for exclusion orders, for example. I believe, however, that this has to be across the board for offences rather than for specific technical offences. It would be useful to see full exclusion orders. There are some potential breaches. There is the potential to exclude from race grounds or from public sales, but one could just have somebody else go to the public sale. A full exclusion order might be better in those circumstances.

We have covered the exportation of greyhounds. The Deputy asked about chipping. It is now an offence not to have any dog microchipped in Ireland. We conducted a survey with UCD that showed that approximately 85% of dogs are now microchipped. It has been a success. It remains to be seen whether that impetus will continue. It was already a requirement for greyhounds to be microchipped.