Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I will table a number of additional amendments on Report Stage to deal with the artificial insemination of greyhounds.

The Irish Greyhound Board received a legal opinion from Mr. Ross Aylward, senior counsel, on 27 February 2013. His legal opinion was sought on the use of frozen semen in the sector. It reads as follows:

There is no escaping the need to apply the two year death limit in my view. To fail to do so is only to perpetuate an already existing problem. In essence the bord finds itself where it does. The damage has been done in that the two year limit has not been complied with. Nothing can be done now, in terms of turning back the clock on the issue (one cannot go back retrospectively). However the bord can now seek to ensure that the AI regulations are complied with.

New regulations were subsequently introduced in 2014, under the stewardship of the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney. It meant that the two-year death limit was no longer applied retrospectively. Let me outline the current system. The Irish Greyhound Board approves a number of licences which it issues to studkeepers who provide an artificial insemination service for greyhounds. The two-year death limit means that no frozen semen from a dog that is dead can be used. If the board had implemented the regulations, as it should have done because it was the law, there would be no greyhound racing on any track today bred with the semen of a dog which was dead. What is actually happening is that board is continuing to flout its own regulations which conveys a misconception and creates a two tier playing field in the sector.

The current chairman of the Irish Greyhound Board appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts on 18 May 2017 when a member of the committee, Deputy Connolly, asked him why it had not complied with its own regulations. He confirmed that she was correct and had to admit that it was not complying with them. Nothing has changed since. Compliance with the regulations is one of the key recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in its report. In fact, it recommended that the issue be addressed immediately.

As far back as 14 July 2015, the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, state in reply to a parliamentary question tabled for a written reply:

Following that consultation and with my consent, as is required under section 39 of the 1958 Act, the Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds (Amendment) Regulations 2014 were introduced by BnG and came into effect on 1 November 2014, thus removing the two-year time limit on the use of semen for artificial insemination following the death of a stud dog. These regulations did not have retrospective effect.

The reply means that no dog should be racing today, the mother of which received semen from a dog that had died many years prior to that date, but, unfortunately, that is not the case. I have been told that last Saturday night dogs raced in stadiums under the jurisdiction of the Irish Greyhound Board, in respect of which the regulations had been flouted. How can that be considered to be a level playing field? Such a situation is unacceptable, which is why Senator Ruane's amendment is so important. This week I wrote to the board asking it to explain the matter. I understand the board has issued licences to five studs that provide frozen semen, for which individuals pay anything between €700 and €7,000. Recently, a greyhound by the name of Trade Official participated in a race.