Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 1 June 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Horse Racing in Ireland and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's Anti-doping Programme: Discussion
Dr. Lynn Hillyer:
We have tried to wear what is quite a responsibility as lightly as we possibly can while still maintaining our effectiveness. To take a broad brush, we have only been in operation about a year. The warrant cards were issued on 21 May 2021. We are careful to behave respectfully and carefully at all times. Some visits warrant a different approach but it depends on the inspection. To put numbers on it, I would say 95% of the time we would enter very similarly as we would on a normal licensed premises. In other words, going to a gate, ringing the doorbell or the gatebell, and proceeding. Sometimes, and only specifically in relation to intelligence, information or a risk basis, we have to behave differently. By definition usually if that is the case we will actually be with our colleagues from the investigations division.