Chamber and committees

A dog bred for racing in Scotland.

I have a supplementary from Emma Roddick.

I would not be doing my job if it did come up. Thank you, Mark.

We now need to decide whether to take our final agenda item, on considering the evidence heard earlier in the meeting on PE1758, in private. Are members content to take that item in private?

Members indicated agreement.

That means that next week’s meeting will be entirely in private.

But you are the minister and the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission report is one of the fundamental pieces of evidence relating to this petition. You are saying that you cannot tell us whether you agree with the overall conclusion or not. It is very straightforward:

“a dog bred for racing in Scotland currently has poorer welfare than the average of other dogs”.

Do you agree or disagree with that position?

Thank you.

You stated that you think that the 2006 act is adequate to protect greyhounds, but, in the act, it suggests that the

“considerations to which regard is to be had in determining ... whether suffering is unnecessary include ... whether the suffering was proportionate to the purpose of the conduct concerned”.

I am asking what level of suffering you think is proportionate in relation to greyhound racing.

To follow up on that, we have heard throughout the evidence that the Republic of Ireland is one of the major issues here, with lack of data and traceability. Does the Republic of Ireland need to be a part of that microchip identification system to allow it to work, and is that achievable?