Results 1,781-1,800 of 7,648 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I want to pursue this issue if I may. Mr. Sheahan told us we had a Rolls Royce system which he extolled at length and he said it took 50 years to build it up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Precisely because we have a system like that, it would not take 50 years to adapt that across the equine sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Is it not an indictment of the Department that having such a Rolls Royce system for cattle that it has not been applied to horses? Is it not the case that the Department has not been pursuing an animal welfare agenda with vigour?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: If I could turn to the question of doping, one of the problems with the claims being made about the fear that drug taking is a major problem in Irish horse racing is that it is very difficult to catch. Those who do this kind of thing are very skilled at staying ahead of the investigators. We know how they had to be brought down in America and that has brought changes, including to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Could I stop Mr. Drea there? He referred to food safety and public health. Equine doping is not primarily about either of those things.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Is Mr. Drea in a position to tell me, first, that he has the expertise on site to know if the drug that has been seized by customs could be used in horse doping and, second, where that happens he does not warn off the consignee and seek permission to destroy the drug but that a controlled delivery is done in all of those situations in order to find the wrongdoers? Could he guarantee that he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Is Mr. Drea saying-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Mr. Drea said first of all that they have to be dangerous. That suggests to me that if it is being used in equine doping it is not regarded as dangerous. Is that what Mr. Drea is getting at there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Mr. Drea stated that the controlled delivery has complexities attached because one would not necessarily find the product. I am talking about a situation where drugs have been seized. Is there expertise on the spot when that happens to know that they could be used in horse doping? Serious allegations have been made affecting the reputation of the Irish horse racing sector, which is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Why was it done in only a small number of instances?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Does the Department have the pharmacological qualifications? If I understand it correctly, Mr. Drea is in a role that was previously a veterinary role. I know there was some change to the system. I also understand that a lot of people with veterinary and related experience have left the investigations division and that there is a small number of veterinary inspectors with relatively recent...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Okay. What happened in the Zilpaterol case? This is a case that we have discussed at previous meetings. It relates to testing done in France and the withdrawal of certain horses from races by Ballydoyle. There was a report that there was a contaminant in material produced by Gain Equine Nutrition. We were told by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board that it was satisfied that it could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Did the Department take samples from the end users?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I appreciate that. Could I ask one last question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: It echoes the Chairman's own. It seems to me that our guests are the ones who are going to shape policy. Will they take steps to bring forward legislation, or whatever measures are necessary, to bring about more independence in the body that is responsible for the regulation of something as sensitive as equine doping?

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second and Subsequent Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: The Minister is welcome, but I oppose the Bill. The time has long passed since the Government could seek to get the benefit of the doubt over its Covid-19 measures. Ministers have consistently shown such rank contempt for both Houses that any request for new powers ought to be flatly denied. As usual it will be nodded through by Government Senators as was done by Government Deputies before...

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second and Subsequent Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I regret I do not have time to accept it. Yesterday the Tánaiste told the Dáil there is a prospect that the 45% of the population who are not fully vaccinated could overwhelm hospitals this summer. What is the basis for that claim? I do not ask these questions to be obstructive. We have put up with a lot, but I have a real fear that our culture and our society is changing....

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (15 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Curim fáilte riomh an Aire Stáit. It is not an exaggeration to say that the increasing care needs of our growing elderly population are probably one of the most urgent social crises looming over the Irish State in the next 30 years. Our ballooning national debt may be at dangerous levels, but it can be inflated away and renegotiated. Climate change, for all the attention it gets,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Gabhaim buíochas mór leis an gCathaoirleach. There are two Bills on the Seanad Order Paper on the problem of gambling. One is Senator Wall’s Bill which would ban broadcast and non-broadcast advertising and then there is Senator Ward’s Bill which would ban betting on the national lottery. Both of those are very welcome. It was a happy coincidence that President...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jul 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Indeed I am and I was speaking about the separation of powers even while referring positively to his comments.