Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept that.That gentleman is not the only one. As I said the other day, numerous people travel across the water, fill their dogs with drugs, race them on tracks in the United Kingdom, following which they are banned for perhaps six months, a year or a lifetime, as in the case I mentioned, yet, the following week or perhaps before the end of it, they are racing the same dogs on a track in Ireland. That is crazy. It does not work that way in athletics or any other sport. This year I raced at the world athletics championships in Spain and was drug tested after the race. If I had tested positive, I would have received a lifetime ban handed down by the IAAF and never been able to race again. How was a greyhound that had been banned across the water able to race in Ireland by the end of the same week? It is unacceptable. That is why I am talking about zero tolerance.

I accept that the Minister of State has come here with a script from his officials that states the residue of drugs can be found on bank notes. I did not see many greyhounds walking or running down the street with a €50 note in the last while, which is all I will say on that issue.

I checked with those involved in other jurisdictions and what they do is very interesting. In Ireland we will have a threshold, which the Minister of State has outlined.However, the system does not work in that way in other jurisdictions where greyhounds are tested. This should have been made known by the Irish Greyhound Board to all concerned. It should be following best international practice in drug testing. There should be collaboration with every other jurisdiction where dogs are raced to find a unified international standard benchmark. That has not happened and I call for it to happen.

I took it upon myself to contact a laboratory director in Australia and received an email in response this week. I was inquiring about prohibited substances, in particular, morphine which is given to dogs here. Imagine giving morphine to a greyhound which is already suffering because it is injured to get it around the track. That is cruel. It is extreme cruelty, but it is happening right, left and centre in Ireland, although, of course, it is disregarded by the authorities. Mr. David Batty is the laboratory director of Racing Analytical Services in Victoria, Australia. In his email he thanks me for my inquiry and states: "An official morphine threshold does not exist in the Australian greyhound rules". If that is the case, why would we try to introduce such a threshold in Ireland? Morphine is given to suffering cancer patients. Why would it be given to a dog to allow it to get around the track? I cannot understand it. I will provide the Minister of State with a copy of the email for his review. Without reading the rest of it, the point is that there is no drugs threshold whatsoever in Australia. It has internal laborabory thresholds, but they are minimal in order to cover what the Minister of State mentioned about airborne substance threats. The only thresholds are for naturally occurring substances in the tissues or organisms of the greyhound, that is, substances such as testosterone, ethanol, cobalt, arsenic and so on. In short, there is no threshold for class A drugs.

It is worth reminding Members what I am looking for. Class A drugs include opium, heroin, ecstasy, crack, cocaine, LSD, magic mushrooms and amphetamines, or speed. We are creating legislation with thresholds for these drugs in greyhounds. I cannot get my head around this. I checked the legislative position in the United Kingdom. Again, there is zero tolerance of these substances, whereas we are trying to introduce, or continue with, a tolerance level. If that were to happen in any other sport such as Gaelic football, soccer or athletics, what grey area would be created for athletes, viewers, spectators and those betting at home? It would not send the right message. The right message is not being sent in this case either. A grey area is being created.

There is a two-tier greyhound industry because of the use of frozen semen and also drugs. There are numerous examples and articles have been written all over the world about greyhounds that won prize money here. It was found that they had been banned for drug use and that the trainer had run them again the following week. Anyone who gives heroin or another class A drug to a greyhound has no place in the sport and should receive a lifetime ban. We should be adopting the strict rules that are applied in the United Kingdom. It is as simple as that. Where there are grey areas, the lines become blurred. That is what has happened and why the reputational damage caused is so extreme. At least if there was zero tolerance, it would be much easier for the control committee and create clarity. It would also create clarity in the laboratory, as well as protecting the welfare of greyhounds. It is an animal welfare issue, about which animal welfare groups have contacted me. I know that Senators Higgins and Ruane have raised concerns in that regard. It is a key concern. Anyone who stuffs amphetamines, Viagra or cocaine into a greyhound knows that it is cruel, yet that is what happening carte blanchein every stadium throughout the country. That is the purpose of my amendments and why I am requesting that there be zero tolerance.

Under amendment No. 8d, where someone is found to have been giving a prohibited substance to a greyhound, there would be a minimum ban of four months. Otherwise, there could be a negative result within the four month period and the greyhound could be racing again. There has to be a minimum period. It is to try to bring clarity to the drugs issue and deal with it once and for all. Despite its best efforts, the Irish Greyhound Board has been found to be incapable of dealing with it. It has been ongoing for far too long and needs to be dealt with.

As I outlined, there are two reasons drugs are given to greyhounds, the first of which is to make them go faster, while the second is to make them go slower. Ultimately, it has to do with betting in the industry because when there is insider knowledge and one knows that a dog will run fast or slow, the odds are predictable. It is very wrong, but it happens all the time. Drugs are not necessarily being given to a dog for it to win.It might be for the dog to finish last but it is causing the dog the same harm, so there is no level playing field and this needs to be addressed.

I hope the Minister will look at this zero tolerance issue because I am not willing to stand down on it. It is wrong on every level, from the welfare of the animals to the spectators who pay or those who do not go but may decide to bet on greyhounds at home online. If we look at the trajectory of figures over the past ten years since 2007, punters are not going to greyhound stadiums because they believe the races are fixed and the dogs are full of drugs. That is the perception that exists, and while that perception remains unchallenged and unaddressed, we have a major issue. The industry is on the way to the bottom and the only reason it is being maintained at the moment is because of the subvention from the betting tax. If that was not there, the industry would not be there, but it is wrong to provide that subvention and then have this drugs issue. The close links to criminal cartels here in Dublin can only be severed by dealing with the artificial insemination issue and the drugs issue.

I ask the Minister of State to stand tough. I know I am probably getting a backlash from standing up and saying this but we have to do it because I care about the industry. I have never placed €1 on a dog. I have no financial interest in a dog or in dog breeding whatsoever but I believe it is the right thing to do. I come from a small farm in west Donegal and I believe that animals should be treated humanely and the way that greyhounds are being treated is not humane, so for that reason alone, if for no other reason, we should deal with the drugs issue.