Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak briefly to amendment No. 15 which seeks to place responsibility on the Irish Greyhound Board to develop and publish industry-wide guidelines on how dogs should be dealt with by their owners when retired from racing. As the Minister suggested the possibility of including it elsewhere, perhaps in guidelines, he might get back to me to explain what he means. There was some confusion on the question of what is retirement. Perhaps we might look at how it is defined before Report Stage. There must be a difference between a dog which is not racing and one which has officially been retired from racing; therefore, it should not be difficult to define. Perhaps they could be seen as having been retired when they no longer have a licence to race or when the owner sees no future in racing for them because of age or an injury. There has to be some way by which we can look at what retirement means in order that we can include amendment No. 15 in the legislation as a preventive measure to ensure people will think about what they are going to do with their dogs when they are retired. The legislation is strong on this issue, but it would be useful to define what is meant.