Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the representatives from RCÉ and thank them for a comprehensive submission. We dealt a lot with greyhounds in the last committee. I think the Chairman, who is absent at the moment, and I are the only two survivors from that committee. There was much controversy at the time when we did the pre-legislative scrutiny of the 2019 Act. There may have been a change in RCÉ personnel, but the witnesses represent the same body.

I welcome the work they have done on the traceability system. That was a major issue. It reads as if it will do what it says on the tin and will help matters. As a suckler farmer, I agree with the comparison. The calves and cattle of Ireland are more accounted for and more easily traced than human beings. If one can aspire to that standard, the goal is definitely being achieved. Before the new traceability system, a number of greyhounds were untraceable in the system. Will the witnesses give an update on those untraceable dogs that were discussed previously? Where are they? What progress has been made in overcoming the issue?

The witnesses stated that Greyhound Racing Ireland has six foster care homes and that two more are in the tender process. Are many more places showing interest? Certain individuals have contacted me to state that it is a prolonged, slow process and it takes a long time to get a premises through that tender. More people might be willing to become foster care homes if the paraphernalia about being accepted were cut through a little quicker. They seem to lose interest as time goes on. Only two are being negotiated at the moment. Will they be sufficient? Are there many expressions of interest beyond those eight?

The witnesses stated they have made a submission to the Department or have been in contact with it about updating the 2019 legislation with regard to only a veterinary surgeon or officer being accepted as somebody who will euthanise a greyhound. Where are they with that? It is news to me. If there are changes to legislation, we would imagine that we would be among the first to hear about it. How long has that submission been in for? Where is it with the Department?

On the commercial side, I am involved with the Kilbeggan race committee. We have done much research since the pandemic and since things opened up. It is not just us, but nationally. There is a feeling that if we are to get people back to the extent that we want, we will have to provide open air facilities. People tend to avoid large, crowded, enclosed areas, which includes most greyhound racing, especially for night racing. The word on the racing circuit is to put up a marquee with a roof and no sides. People are conscious of going into enclosed areas. Have the witnesses found that? Can they provide similar facilities? Have they done research on that? Do they feel they would need to go along those lines to encourage people to return or to facilitate the new needs of a population that is conscious of the pandemic we have gone through?