The Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) has announced the
commencement of a tender process for a greyhound traceability system which will
monitor and record key life events for all registered greyhounds throughout
their life.
The provisions for a full traceability system are contained
in the Greyhound Racing Act 2019, which was signed into law by the President in
May.
A draft framework for the system has been devised by a
working group established by the Board for this purpose. Discussions have taken
place with numerous bodies such as the Irish Coursing Club (ICC), the Greyhound
Board of Great Britain (GBGB), Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) and Capita
(providers of the Cattle Movement and Monitoring System [CMMS] to the
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine).
CEO of the Irish Greyhound Board, Gerard Dollard, commented:
“A traceability system for racing greyhounds was sought by the IGB in the
context of updating the 1958 Greyhound Industry Act. Traceability is a key
priority in our care and welfare programme, with legislative provisions being
made in the Greyhound Racing Act 2019, signed into law in May. When
implemented, the traceability system will record the location and controller
details of a racing greyhound throughout key events – birth, microchipping, registration, racing
career, changes of ownership, controller, location, export, retirement and end
of life. This demonstrates the IGB’s determination to ensure a ‘whole of life’
approach for greyhounds, as contained in its Strategic Plan 2018-2022.”
The traceability system will run in tandem with the current
microchipping regulations and IGB’s scanning and drug sampling project, and
will be used to scan greyhounds for identification, racing and sampling
purposes.
The tender process, which is being run through the European
Journal, has a closing date for tenders of Wednesday, 18th December 2019.
