Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This amendment is based on the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine report of 2016 and the recommendation around having a zero-tolerance policy on prohibited substances made therein. Class A-type drugs are administered to greyhounds for a multitude of reasons, including to make the greyhound faster or slower, depending on how the betting arithmetic works in a given race. There are criminal links to that sector, with some of the criminal gangs of this country involved. I know the Minister of State is aware of that. The difficulty is the perception that this is creating. It also raises the issue of animal welfare. Nobody should be feeding banned class A drugs to greyhounds. As I mentioned on Committee Stage, those drugs include cocaine, beta blockers and other performance supporting drugs like Viagra. Many types of drugs are being fed to these greyhounds for one reason or another. This is happening on an ongoing basis. We see dogs winning races involving big stakes which subsequently test positive for drugs.

The purpose of this amendment is to introduce an internationally-acceptable standard to replace the grey area which suggests it is okay if greyhounds are given some drugs, which is the impression given by the Irish Greyhound Board. It may not be the intention, but it is definitely the impression given. While that impression remains, a certain perception builds up around the entire sector. I am seeking a stringent prohibition, in line with best international practice, which would mean that class A drugs found in samples taken from a racing greyhound, by reference to the substance and the nature of the sample taken from the greyhound, are banned completely. There is no place for those who indulge in such practices in greyhound racing.

We all have pets at home. We may have dogs that we care for. Family members often say that a dog is like an extension of the family, or like the son or daughter some couples never had. Would anyone here feed their dog Viagra, testosterone, cocaine, amphetamines, beta blockers or a mixture of all of those substances? There is no way anyone here would do that to his or her pet, so why the hell should we be allowing such substances to be fed to greyhounds?

The efforts of the Department to ban them have not worked to date. It is very unfair on many in the sector that this grey area is abused by a small number of individuals in the industry, either to try to win races, lose races or manipulate the probabilities and increase or decrease the chances of winning the stakes with the bookmakers. It is very wrong and is an area which certainly must be cleaned up from an animal welfare standpoint and in order to bring transparency to the industry. With this amendment I am suggesting that we take a zero-tolerance approach to drugs.

I gave the example of what is being done in Australia. The laboratory which tests for drugs in Australia, where there is an industry comparable with the Irish industry, has a zero-tolerance approach. It is true that there is a laboratory tolerance, but I understand there is such a threshold in laboratories all over the world. The laboratories in Australia, however, have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs within the greyhound racing sector. We do not have such an approach and my argument is that such an approach should be introduced. This Bill presents an opportunity to do so. It is in line with the all-party, cross-party recommendations in the 2016 report. The Indecon report indicated-----