Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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251. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of fines and or penalties that have been issued by greyhound coursing clubs since 2015 for failure of an agent to notify the death of a stud sire within the 14 days as prescribed in S.I. No. 561/2005 - Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds Regulations, 2005. [18454/22]

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 Greyhound Stud Book (IGSB) since 1923. The Stud Book records pedigrees, ownerships, breeding data and transfers of ownership primarily of all greyhounds. TheICC is subject to the general control and direction of Rásaíocht Con Éireann.

The ICC has informed my Department that there have been no instances where an agent was fined for a breach of late notification of the death of a stud sire as per the AI Regulations 2005 since 2015.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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252. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the table of fines and penalties as set by each greyhound coursing club. [18455/22]

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 Greyhound Stud Book (IGSB) since 1923. The Stud Book records pedigrees, ownerships, breeding data and transfers of ownership primarily of all greyhounds. TheICC is subject to the general control and direction of Rásaíocht Con Éireann.

The ICC has informed my Department that each coursing club does not set fines or penalties: coursing clubs are affiliated to the ICC body. The ICC is responsible for setting fines and penalties for matters not prescribed for under statutory regulations.

- AI Regulation Section 19.(4) states: “Without prejudice and in addition to any other sanction that may be imposed by the Club under the Irish Coursing Club Rules, the Club on being notified of the conviction of any person for a breach of these Regulations, shall be entitled to refuse registration of any stud sire, service or litter involved in the proceedings leading to the conviction, or to withdraw or cancel any such registration already effected in favour of the convicted person”.

- AI Regulation 5.6.and 5.7set out instances, whereby an AI licence will not be issued.

- The AIA Sub Committeeand the Appeal Sub-Committeedeal with applications and appeals of any refusals related to applications.

- The ICC fine structurein relation to the Stud Book is set out at Appendix B at irishcoursingclub.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rules-Pt-5.pdf

The ICC fine structure and penaltiesin relation to prohibited substances, is set out in Rule 88, see Article 12: irishcoursingclub.ie/pdfs/Rule-88-v16-12-2019.pdf.

- The ICC may impose an Exclusion Ordersubject to the consent of Rásaíocht Con Éireann (this provision will be amended upon commencement of the relevant section of the Greyhound Racing Act 2019).

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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253. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of times the period of use of frozen semen of a dead canine sire has been varied in consultation with a club under S.I. No. 561/2005 - Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds Regulations, 2005, Regulation 14(7); and the variation and the club involved. [18456/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ) is a commercial state body, established under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958 chiefly to control greyhound racing and to improve and develop the greyhound industry. RCÉ is a body corporate and a separate legal entity to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The Board of Rásaíocht Con Éireann introduced regulation in 2005 specifically governing the practice of Artificial Insemination, The Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds Regulations, SI 561 of 2005. These regulations set out in detail the rules governing the practice of artificial insemination and whose remit it is to do so. A copy of these Regulations is attached for ease of reference

The Board's remit in these regulations is chiefly the issue of licences on an annual basis on appropriate recommendation from The Irish Coursing Club, who are Keepers of the Irish Greyhound Stud Book. The legislation covers how and where semen (domestic or imported) may be collected, stored, and covers additionally ancillary regulatory provisions under a number of headings.

The Irish Coursing Club has the regulatory responsibility to maintain all relevant records relating to the satisfaction of compliance of the regulations. This includes the number and type of matings carried out and subsequently registered by them. The ICC publishes metrics on matings and litters declared on a periodic basis and attached is a copy of such a publication which identifies whether the mating was carried out by Frozen Semen Implant (FSI) or Artificial Insemination (AI).

The regulations were amended in 2014 by the Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds (Amendment) Regulations SI 494 of 2014, which effectively removed the period of use for semen drawn more than 2 years from the death of a Stud (copy attached) .

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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254. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of successful matings in the greyhound coursing industry that involved TSI surgical artificial insemination for the years 2019 to 2021 in tabular form; and the number of those successful matings that resulted from a deceased sire. [18457/22]

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 Greyhound Stud Book (IGSB) since 1923. The Stud Book records pedigrees, ownerships, breeding data and transfers of ownership primarily of all greyhounds. TheICC is subject to the general control and direction of Rásaíocht Con Éireann.

The ICC has provided my Department with the following data for the years 2020 and 2021, however as surgical implants are not recorded separately on its system it was by a manual check through all its mating certs that the number of surgical implants was ascertained. It was not possible in the time allowed to provide the data for 2019 but the ICC has assured my Department that it will provide the data within the next week. Officials from this Department will forward the additional information directly to the Deputy.