Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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466. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason three investigators into an incident at Dundalk Greyhound Stadium, County Louth, initiated by the Irish Greyhound Board, did not finish their investigation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21964/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Bord na gCon is commercial State body, established under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958, charged with the regulation and development of the greyhound racing industry. This is an operational matter for BNG.

I understand from BNG that an independent review of an internal investigation into the running of a winning greyhound at Dundalk Track in 2009 has concluded that there were breaches of racing regulations involved. The review found that, on the balance of probabilities, the substitution of the dog entered into the race by another dog occurred.

Bord na gCon has stated that the internal investigation carried out by the three investigators and completed on behalf of Bord na gCon, was accepted in draft form by the Board of Bord na gCon in January 2013, subject to legal advice.

That legal advice strongly advised that publication of the draft report would be suppressed by the High Court in any judicial proceedings.

On the basis of the legal advice, the Board ordered an independent review of the investigation following the same terms of reference as the internal investigation. The review made findings and drew conclusions based on the objective evidence obtained by the internal investigation and the report is published on the BNG website.