Mr. Denis Healy:

It is all well and good talking about traceability but unless the regime is enforced, it is useless. To answer Deputy Corcoran Kennedy's question, pups of 12 weeks of age or greater are microchipped. This is recorded in a database. Let us say a Mr. Cahill has a bitch that has six pups and they are recorded on the system. Twelve months later, they must be registered on the racing management system, RMS. This is when the Irish Greyhound Board first has a record of them. We have the manpower to check the record. If we have information that Mr. Cahill started out with six pups and registered only three on the racing system, we can ask about the remaining pups. If we see from the system that dogs are missing, we can go to Mr. Cahill and ask him to explain what happened them. He is required to inform the Irish Coursing Club within 14 days of a transfer of ownership, movement or death. If it is not done within the relevant period and we investigate the matter, which we do, we can serve a fixed penalty notice. That is very doable.

To answer Deputy Corcoran Kennedy's other question, the microchipping is done. It is required beyond 12 weeks of age. Some 95% to 96% of the microchipping is done by officers, control committee stewards. They are officers in the employ of the Irish Coursing Club. We can say we have control over 96% to 97% through the Micro Dog ID database. There are one or two other national databases. If a vet microchips, it may be reported through the vet's system. There is still 100% access. That is the baseline.

With regard to the knackeries, Senator Daly asked who has the legal powers. I worked in agriculture for 20 years. Currently, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine enforces the animal by-products regulations. It oversees the disposal of animal by-products. Greyhounds are category 1 material. They can be disposed of only in a certain fashion. It is up to the Department to ensure euthanised greyhounds are disposed of in the fashion in which they are required to be disposed.