Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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544. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will clarify the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 65 of 20 May 2021 (details supplied); the way in which the average figure of six pups per litter has been arrived at in the absence of an exact figure for the number of pups born; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29490/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Coursing Club (ICC) is the organisation charged with the role of Keeper of the Irish Stud Book since 1923.  The stud book records pedigrees, ownerships, breeding data and transfers of ownership primarily of all greyhounds. Greyhounds are required to be named with the Club. TheICC is subject to the general control and direction of Rásaíocht Con Éireann.

The ICC has informed the Department that the data requested by the Deputy in PQ No. 65 of 20th May 2021 is not available for the years 2009 to 2020 as their system could report the total number of litters born but not the individual number of pups per litter. 

The ICC has informed the Department that the average litter size cited previously is the industry norm across greyhound jurisdictions, approximately six or seven pups per litter. It is an indicative figure only and does not purport to be an exact statistic. The number of greyhounds named each year is an exact number of pups from the previous 12-month period in the main (named between 12-15 months approx) and is representative of the number of greyhounds available for competition.

The ICC registration software system has been subject to recent updates and the information on individual numbers of pups will be available from 2021.