Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to section 26 and to deal with the Senator's amendments, the Irish Coursing Club, ICC, is responsible for the identification and registration of greyhounds in the Irish greyhound stud book. Detailed rules governing the practice of artificial insemination of greyhounds were set down in the Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds Regulations, SI 561 of 2005. They were made by Bord na gCon under section 39 of the 1958 Act. Those regulations included a two-year time limit on the use of semen for artificial insemination following the death of a stud dog. Any unused semen thereafter had to be destroyed.

I understand this measure was introduced to lessen the possibility of an increase in inbreeding in the population caused by owners using only a limited set of sires. The measure would have created greater genetic variation in stud dogs being used, hence reducing inbreeding. As a result of the operational difficulties, such as verifying the date of death of certain stud dogs, particularly foreign-based dogs, in the implementation of certain provisions of the Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds Regulations, Bord na gCon consulted industry stakeholders, including the Irish Coursing Club, in June 2007. That consultation was on the suitability of the 2005 regulations in the context of meeting current industry requirements. A decision was taken at that time to request the board to vary the limit by removing it from the 2005 regulations.One of the reasons cited at the time was that such a limit does not exist in any other jurisdiction. Bord na gCon decided in 2014, having consulted with the Irish Coursing Club, to remove the two-year limit on the use of semen following the death of a stud greyhound. Arising from this decision and with the consent of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, new regulations were introduced by Bord na gCon which came into effect on 1 November 2014, removing this two-year limit on semen from an expired sire.

To assist the board in respect of the development of this area, in 2015 Bord na gCon commissioned a scientific study into inbreeding in Irish greyhounds by Professor Donagh Berry, a Teagasc geneticist. The conclusions of the report by Professor Berry were that excellent pedigree information exists for the Irish greyhound population, which is crucial for the quantification of inbreeding levels at an individual animal and population level. The rate of accumulation of inbreeding in recent years is 0.15% per year which translates to a rate of 0.89% per generation. This accumulation of inbreeding is lower than the maximum recommended threshold of 1% per generation, set out the by the World Food and Agriculture Organization in 1998. In summary, Professor Berry's conclusion is that there is no inbreeding problem in the Irish greyhound population, inferring that this measure was never required in the first place.