Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister ensure, if he is involved in future appointments, that two women are appointed to Bord na gCon to establish a gender balance? If I introduce my Bill on control of the doping of greyhounds in private Members' time, will the Minister accept it? From the leaks of the report, it seems there will be a new procedure where the control of doping will be taken out of the hands of the board and the chairman will not be compromised as he was in this case. The chairman was put under considerable pressure because he announced greyhound owners were using illegal substances on their dogs. The greyhound industry is small and most people know each other. The chairman and the board members would know all the trainers and owners. If my Bill had been accepted, we would not be in this position and the chairman would not be the subject of this national campaign in the media. Will the Minister accept my private Members' Bill so that there will no recurrence of last October's events?

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