Agriculture Committee to continue Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of Greyhound Industry Bill

The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, 09 May at 4pm in Committee Room 1, Leinster House.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

(i) Scrutiny of EU legislative proposals:
Schedule A: COM(2017)150 (Adjustment rate for financial discipline)
Schedule B: COM(2017)97; COM(2017)125; COM(2017)126; and COM(2017)153;

(ii) Pre-legislative scrutiny on the General Scheme of the Greyhound Industry Bill 2017 [Representatives from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals and Dogs Trust Ireland]; and

(iii) Issues relating to the Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme [Representatives from Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank]

Committee Chair, Pat Deering TD, said: “Tomorrow, the Committee will continue its Pre-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS) of the Greyhound Industry Bill 2017. This is a crucial piece of draft legislation and our Committee is very much aware of the need to get this bill right in order to protect the welfare of greyhounds and encourage healthy growth within the industry.”

“In the second part of the meeting, the Committee will meet with the banks which administer the sCashflow Support Loan Scheme. The Committee will seek to establish how many customers the banks were unable to facilitate within the scheme due to the funds available in order to determine the potential for future schemes of a similar nature. The Committee previously questioned the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland regarding the terms of loans provided, and may wish to examine this matter with the banks which administered the scheme. Additionally, the Committee may wish to follow up on a line of questioning regarding criteria which may have served to exclude certain farmers.”

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.