Mr. William Fitzgerald:

I agree that the time involved in the tender process for foster care homes can be quite lengthy. It is similar to any tender process. All the processes have to be gone through for the purposes of issuing a tender from a semi-State organisation. Once the tender has been evaluated, a period of time has to be given afterwards to give tendering parties a chance to appeal.

Once that period has elapsed, the contracts can be exchanged. It is quite a lengthy process. It would be a lot easier if a lot of the additional material could be cut through, as the Senator put it, but unfortunately it is required. I refer to stuff like tax clearance certificates and a lot of the additional paraphernalia that goes with that, which is all required. I share the Senator's sentiment that it can take time and be quite slow but, unfortunately, most of these things are required. That pretty much covers the care centres. Senator Paul Daly asked whether eight is sufficient. There is something of a line to be drawn. We have foster care centres, which are centres that prepare dogs for their forever homes. Many of these dogs will be rehomed abroad with credible rehoming charities. Then there are the greyhound care centres. We are currently in the process of confirming two of these. These will essentially be for rehoming dogs here in Ireland. There is a slight difference between the two types of centre. As I have said, we are currently in the process of exchanging contracts with regard to the care centre tendered for towards the end of December, the closing date for that tender process having been at the end of January.