Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is very disappointing that this increase in funding is so broadly welcomed by this committee. This increase will bring the funding for the greyhound racing industry to a staggering €19.2 million. Last year, we learned that 16,000 greyhounds are bred every year to keep this industry going and almost 6,000 of them are killed because they fail to make qualification times or their performance has declined. Basically, the industry kills about 6,000 dogs a year for not racing fast enough. The Government continues to fund it and is now increasing the funding.

The animal welfare issues are bad enough but it is worth noting that this is also a loss-making industry. Attendance at greyhound racing tracks fell by 55% between 2008 and 2018 and the combined losses for tracks between 2019 and 2022 is predicted to be €30 million. The Government intends to increase the funding despite the public outcry following the documentary that exposed unspeakable acts of cruelty in the industry, despite the fact that the industry relies on overbreeding and culling 6,000 dogs a year, despite a dramatic drop in both the number of people attending race meetings and advertising revenues, and despite the fact that only 16% of the Irish population agree that the Government should continue to fund the industry. It is quite frankly ridiculous to see this conversation going on in the committee. For too long, the greyhound racing industry has been kept alive by generous State subsidies This is taxpayers' money and the Irish people do not want that anymore.

I am aware that many breeders and trainers treat animals well. I am sure Senator Paul Daly is one of them. In many instances they are the people in the industry who understand where I am coming from because the overarching standards of care in the industry are scandalous. The ISPCA, which is the largest animal welfare organisation in the country, has stopped engaging with the industry because it does not believe it is serious about reform.

That is where we are at unfortunately. The €19.2 million the greyhound industry will receive next year will be six times more than the amount received by all animal welfare organisations. The 10% going towards care and traceability is not enough when one considers that 60% is going into the prize money. I strongly object to the increase in funding and the Social Democrats party and I will table a motion in the Dáil tomorrow to reverse this decision and to gradually phase out funding for the greyhound racing industry and to increase support for animal welfare causes. I do not understand how everybody can defend this or what the long game is. Is it just to continue blindly pumping millions of euros of taxpayers' money into a dying industry that maintains these appalling standards of care and to keep defending it despite the public will to end it?

Many members have referred to the need for jobs and stated that this is an attack on rural Ireland. What we really need in rural Ireland is investment in sustainable jobs. The greyhound racing industry at present, when one considers the loss-making nature of it, the standards of care within it, the public disquiet about it, defines what an unsustainable job is. What we need in rural Ireland is the opposite of that. I will leave my contribution at that but I encourage members to consider their views on this based on all of this information which we often hear. The facts put out by the national broadcaster last year have been disputed but have never been debunked. Bord na gCon itself accepted that the facts put out in that documentary are true and it is our responsibility to take those into consideration when we are looking into vast funding such as this. I thank the Chair.