Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What is central to the Bill is the welfare of greyhounds and there are considerable welfare issues relating to greyhounds. This is part of a bigger picture in Ireland of wanton, deliberate and sustained abuse of animals in spite of the many individuals and organisations dedicated to animal welfare, some of them without any State funding and relying on their own resources and fundraising. They are picking up the pieces from the mistreatment, abuse and cruelty that has been allowed to continue.

I am looking at the Bill in the context of our other animal welfare legislation, which we know has not seen an end to cruelty. We also know the sanctions have not really been a deterrent. I am looking at this as part of the bigger picture. Looking at particular abuses where sanctions did not work, there was a recent case involving digging out foxes and a terrible example of a hunt chasing a fox into a housing estate. There was a court case and the hunt was fined the maximum allowed under the Control of Dogs Act but because at least 15 people took part in the hunt each person probably paid less than €100. The sanction in the Act was not sufficient. There are also questions about the welfare of the dogs and hounds, how they are bred and how they are kept.

We are one of the few countries where fur farming continues and we know the appalling conditions in which minks are kept and the dangers to the environment when they escape. We know about the cruelty in badger baiting and that of so-called puppy farming establishments. We know about battery hens and now we have battery pups. These are some examples of the wider picture and the shameful way in which animals are treated in Ireland.

With regard to the Bill we have greyhound racing, hare coursing and the export of greyhounds. Beneath all these the guiding rule will have to be the welfare of the greyhound in all situations. I am struck by the irony that we have a ban on the use of wild animals for entertainment purposes in circuses, which is a total hypocrisy when we see it is okay to use a hare for so-called entertainment at coursing meetings. There is also cruelty to the greyhounds. We know about the blooding of greyhounds, which goes on and is ignored. It involves the illegal netting of hares.

While greyhounds are used for racing or coursing there is also the question of the welfare of those greyhounds that do not make it, either through injury, a lack of speed or stamina or whatever.

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