Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak about the Indecon report and the possible closure of Youghal greyhound track. I have been told that nobody from Indecon visited that track and that the survey was conducted by email. That is getting off to a very bad start. It is a typical Irish thing to try to fix something that is not broken. Only two greyhound stadiums are making money at the moment. The Youghal stadium is making €4,500 to €5,000 a night because it was the first to introduce the Sports Information Services, SIS, betting scheme, which it piloted for two years for free - gratis- for the Irish Greyhound Board, IGB. Now there is talk of closing the stadium. It is also home to the oldest track supporters club in the country, which was founded in the 1950s. The closure of this track will be detrimental to the area and would be similar to the closure of Youghal Carpets when I was young. I do not know whether the IGB or Indecon - although it said it is not liable - will make the decision, but I appeal to the Minister of State to please not close this track.

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