Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 March 2022
906. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 749 of 8 March 2022, the number of blood, urine and hair samples tested for doping by the Irish Horse Racing Regulatory Board by year in each of the years 2018 to date in 2022; the reason for a 28% reduction in cost expended in 2019 in contrast to 4% increase in the number of tests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16609/22]
View answerThe Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) is the regulatory body for all horseracing in Ireland as provided for in Section 11 of the Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) Act 2016. The IHRB was established on 1st January 2018 and is a company limited by guarantee. The information the Deputy has requested has been provided to my Department by the IHRB and is contained in the attached table.
The IHRB have advised that in 2018, LGC Laboratories were successful in a procurement process for provision of laboratory services for analysis of all equine samples taken by the body. LGC are an International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) certified laboratory.
The reduction in cost per unit is on the basis that LGC analyse in excess of 50,000 samples from all of its regulatory customers a year which means it has a critical mass that enables the cost per unit to be significantly less than other laboratories.
