Greyhound industry to get overhaul

UPDATED LEGISLATION to regulate the greyhound industry will be introduced in the autumn, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith has said.

Mr Smith said his officials had already engaged “very constructively” with the Irish Greyhound Board and the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) and preparation of a draft Bill was under way, “with a view to publishing in the autumn for enactment before the end of the year”.

As a compromise measure to ensure the passage of controversial animal welfare legislation, Minister for the Environment John Gormley said elements of the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill relating to the greyhound industry could be inserted into an amended version of the 1958 Greyhound Industry Act.

The Minister said welfare inspections of greyhound establishments would be conducted jointly by authorised officers of the board and local authority veterinary officers. “This legislation will provide equivalent welfare standards for greyhounds as those being provided in the Dog Breeding Establishments Act.

Mr Smith said he did not think differences between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party over animal welfare legislation had damaged relations between the coalition partners. “I don’t think so. We get on with business.”

He criticised some pro-hunting groups who had campaigned against legislative measures to ban stag hunting with packs of dogs and regulate dog breeding establishments. “There was a lot of misrepresentation in relation to the issues that came before the Dáil in recent times . . . There were people campaigning against those legislative measures that were not addressing the particular issues at all,” he said.

“They were putting out scare-mongering stories that fishing would be banned, that hunting would be banned and that all rural pursuits would be banned. That was absolutely disingenuous and it was not factual. That would generate antagonism to any political party or to any individual minister or public representative as well.”

Along with Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Mr Smith will today launch a strategy document on Ireland’s agri-food industry in Celbridge, Co Kildare. Strategy 2020 marks the culmination of months of consultation with more than 30 groups representing the agricultural sector.

The report will state the agri-food export sector can help lead the State’s economic recovery. “It’s ambitious. They identify very clearly the potential there is for us to grow the sector and they identify in particular that we can substantially grow our exports. It’s a very good report.”

Asked if farmers have anything to fear from the budget, Mr Smith would only say all Government departments would have to analyse their spending programmes.

Mr Smith is TD for Cavan-Monaghan, where the Quinn Group employed a large number of staff. He met with Quinn Insurance workers when Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield appointed provisional administrators to the business in May.

He said huge respect remains for Seán Quinn in the constituency and he believed the insurance company would come through its difficulties.

“I literally grew up as that company grew up. I remember Seán Quinn when he’d one lorry and he was delivering sand and gravel himself, and I’ve seen that enterprise grow magnificently.”

While he has a lower profile than some other Ministers, Mr Smith came to some prominence in December 2008 during the so-called “pork crisis”. High dioxin levels were confirmed in Irish pig meat samples, triggering the immediate withdrawal of Irish pork products for consumption at home and abroad.

He said the Government’s prompt action won praise from international political and media sources. “Some people at that time said you went overboard. I believe absolutely not.”