Mr. Gerard Dollard:

I will start off with Deputy Stanley's opening comment about the abuse of animals and how no one wants to see it. One can take it as read that everybody on this side of the table is fully in support of that approach and everything we do is designed to ensure abuse is eradicated.

We were asked about Bord na gCon's role. Very simply, it is a commercial semi-State body responsible for the control, management and development of the greyhound industry in Ireland. Our origins are in the Greyhound Act 1958, as well as the Greyhound Racing Act 2019, which significantly updates the original legislation. We are funded through the allocation from the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund but there is a significant level of commercial income through sponsorship, tote income, attendance income and restaurant income. All those elements go towards the funding of the industry.

We carried out a fairly detailed exercise in July on our staffing levels. There are 39 people at the Limerick head office. There are 157 employed at the various tracks. Forty-eight of these are full-time and 109 are part-time. With regard to our catering division, we do all our own catering. There are 20 full-time and 329 part-time or casual catering staff. In our tote, the betting division, there are 261 employees who are part-time or casual. In all, a total of 806 individuals derive either full-time or part-time employment through the Irish Greyhound Board.

On the greyhound care line, we were asked whether there has been any action on the cases. It is early in terms of dealing with those cases but we have served five welfare notices so far this year. We have served ten fines or fixed-payment notices under the Welfare of Greyhounds Act. I might ask the veterinary director to comment on some of the cases that were dealt with and what is involved.

On Deputy Penrose's points, I appreciate what he is saying about a voluntary code. It is designed to assist the public regarding the care and welfare of greyhounds. Everything cannot be provided for in legislation or through statutory regulation. We regard the code as demonstrating what best practice should be for the care and welfare of a greyhound.

On the unique identifier, I shall ask the head of regulation to give the committee a briefing on traceability, the life cycle, the all-Ireland element and the Greyhound Board of Great Britain element.

On stipendiary stewards, we currently have 21 staff members designated as officers under the Welfare of Greyhounds Act. We had three stipendiary stewards but this number has been reduced to two. We have restructured the workload of our control stewards. The latter are now also involved in welfare inspections. While the composition and numbers might have changed, I am more than satisfied that the resources exist to ensure sufficient attention is paid to the welfare area.

The veterinary director shall comment on welfare and the head of regulation might talk about traceability.