Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have seen people near me and the same people are shouting about exports of cattle and all this. To be honest about it if I had as much room as an animal that goes out of this country on a boat, I would nearly be able to sleep on the broad of my back. That is the amount of room they get. We have to be constantly trying to go against other types of society. It is not a big number of people who are out there but they make themselves very loud.

In the greyhound sector, the one thing we need to make sure is that we have an even balance of the greyhound tracks right around the country to support rural areas. They have come through a torrid time with the Covid and different restrictions. It has been tough. On the point to points, last year there was a lot of pressure on them. These are people who breed a horse and if they win a point to point the value of their horse will be known. For a while they were held up under the different regulations. They did get going but I ask the Minister to make sure they are facilitated. In the line of the report we have done, I think there is some low-hanging fruit. I ask the Minister to look at it and take those things into account. We in the committee did not do up a report for the sake of doing it. We went through it meticulously and took time at it. We had many a conversation about it in private meetings. There is good stuff in it that the Minister should implement.

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