Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Histon for his progress report. There is a line about maintaining public confidence in coursing. That is the job that the ICC has to do. I see that 98% of the tests were negative but 2% were positive. There is a substantial fine, considering that the prize money for coursing is at a low level. I suggest that when people who definitely transgress and then have a second transgression for doping, the trainer or owner of the dog in question should also be suspended. There is no mention of that happening in Mr. Histon's report. At the end of the day, the person responsible for the dog has doped it. There can be no tolerance of that in the industry going forward. I fully respect that the ICC is very serious about doping and ensuring that no doping is happening in the industry. If doping is found to have happened, both the dog and the person responsible for it should receive a suspension.

On revenue for the rehoming of dogs, the IGB was here a couple of weeks ago. It was taking a percentage of gate receipts, of the tote takings and from the restaurant. I fully accept that coursing is a completely different industry, held in the open. There are definitely no restaurants in coursing fields. Mr. Histon said that because of the delay in the start this year, there is no deduction from the prize money.

I see the ICC is proposing a collection at the national coursing meeting. I respectfully suggest that the national coursing meeting is extremely well attended and there are extremely large crowds, so it would definitely be worthwhile putting a surcharge on the admission. When coursing was under threat this year due to the virus that was present in the rabbit population, the worth of the meeting to the town of Clonmel was well quoted. It is worth €12 million to €15 million to Clonmel. I propose placing a surcharge on admissions to the national coursing meeting so that a reasonable amount of money could be contributed by the ICC to the IGB's efforts for the rehoming of dogs. I accept that there is duplication and while duplication of rehoming of dogs is definitely not the way to go, looking after dogs after their racing lives is expensive. The ICC has to show that it is contributing as much as it can to ensure that we can show the public at large that greyhounds are being looked after throughout their lives when they are finished racing.

Illegal hunting is a serious problem in my part of the country. While I know there are some prosecutions under way, it is not nearly enough. The hare population is being threatened by it. We see pictures of ten and 12 hares being held up after being killed on a single day with these lurchers hunting across the countryside. It is a problem given the closure of Garda stations, although we are not going start arguing about that here. The fact is that it happens in rural areas and the nearest squad car can be a long way away when people report that there is a gang in their locality. Even aside from the number of hares that are being killed, people feel very vulnerable with these gangs roaming the countryside. There definitely has to be a lot more focus on it. Garda resources are an issue and there are even problems in that the gardaí cannot seize the dogs. They have to have a dog warden with them to seize the dogs if they catch them, so it needs to be co-ordinated. We have looked for the Department to come in to us on animal welfare. This issue has to be stamped out. Everyone likes to have the hare in its natural environment in the countryside but if a gang comes in with eight or ten lurchers, the hares have no chance. That illegal hunting is intolerable. We have to put more resources into ensuring that it is stamped out completely.

I welcome the progress report and fully accept that the ICC recognises that we have to restore public confidence in the sport. Getting financial resources behind welfare is key. There is a captive crowd in Clonmel and I would respectfully suggest that use should be made of it to ensure that there is a reasonable fund to achieve our objectives as regards welfare.