Mr. Frank Nyhan:

I will deal with the questions in the order in which they have been asked. In response to Senator Lombard, we do what we can in terms of promoting our industry. We have a full-time media officer and we have public relations and promotion people within our staff. Like the Senator, I was there the night that event took place. All of the reports and photographs were submitted to all of the newspapers but, unfortunately, we find it hard to get heard. In fact, the situation now is that we welcome appearances before committees like this because it allows us to get our message out there. Unfortunately, there is a reluctant reluctance to report on the positive side of our industry, and we believe there is a positive side. All we can do is keep trying and we will do that. The man the Senator spoke of was the greyhound personality of the year last night and there was a presentation, but I do not think we saw a photograph of that today either, unfortunately. We will keep trying.

In response to Senator Daly, it is the same situation. We suffered some significant loss in attendances following the programme, particularly in the period immediately after the programme, which I presume was inevitable. Thankfully, the situation in October has shown a significant improvement and we hope that is the start of an even more significant improvement. However, we did undoubtedly suffer a significant blow at the time. The figures we have given to the committee for the care fund take that into account. We have figures to year-end based on our current position, and our budget for next year has taken account of the fact we suffered some significant losses this year.

In response to Deputy McConalogue, the designation as livestock is for the protection of the greyhound because it allows a significant amount of legislation to protect the welfare of the greyhound as a sporting animal. They are not pets during their racing life; they are racing animals. They have to be looked after when they are finished their racing life, and that is where the transition back to pet takes place.

During their racing lives, though, they require the designation of livestock to ensure they have the protection of the various statutes and are properly looked after.