Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As I mentioned, we received the committee's report in the past week to two weeks. Obviously, the committee put much work and effort into it. I am considering the recommendations and each of the points the committee made before responding. I will take the required time to give that a full assessment before reverting to the committee and giving clarity on how I intend to proceed.

The Deputy made points on the make up of the board the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, IHRB. That was one of the points the committee made in the report on which I will be reflecting.

On the greyhound spend on welfare, the Department ring-fenced 10% of the fund allocation to Ráisaíocht Con Éireann, RCÉ, in 2021 for welfare initiatives, and similar criteria are being implemented for 2022. A major expansion of the overall care and welfare programme in RCÉ is ongoing and has been progressing. The projected spend by Ráisaíocht Con Éireann for this year on welfare matters, including integrity, is €1.97 million. There is ongoing bilateral engagement between RCÉ and my Department on the achievement of these objectives. As I said, funding is contingent on ensuring that progress is made and that there is very significant prioritisation of it. It is something in which RCÉ has significantly invested from the point of view of finance, resources and time to ensure there is very significant oversight and that progress is being made.

On the traceability aspect, the resets came into operation in January of this year. Under that, owners and trainers were brought into the system on a phased basis. Data from the system at the end of October indicated the total number of greyhounds subject to traceability was 20,784. As the Deputy knows, the key objective behind it is to ensure that important life events in the life of a greyhound racing dog, including birth, microchipping, registration, the dog's racing career, changes in ownership or trainers, the location of the dog at any time, the retirement and end of life are accurately recorded as part of that. It is an important step forward and it is something in which RCÉ will be significantly investing resources continuing on from where it started this year. That is the update with regard to it.