Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cairns and the Social Democrats for bringing this motion forward. Since I was elected, my colleagues and I have been among a small number of Deputies who every year have opposed the handing over of public funds to the greyhound racing industry. It is great to see this motion and the debate we are having.

The bottom line is that there is enormous cruelty involved in the greyhound racing industry. That is an unavoidable point. That does not mean there are not greyhound racers who love their dogs and treat them well - of course there are - but incredible cruelty is involved in the industry. It is that which many of the speakers in this debate want to avoid. Up to 6,000 dogs a year are killed because they do not race fast enough. Greyhounds are exported to places which effectively have no animal welfare standards, including Macau. There are horrific stories of dogs being boiled alive, not to mention the use of drugs in the greyhound racing industry in Ireland. There is a deep cruelty involved in it.

RTÉ did the public an enormous service with its "RTÉ Investigates: Greyhounds Running for Their Lives" programme last year. It shone a light on this reality that many are trying to avoid. It was so blatant that even a Government Minister at the time was forced to express his "deep concern". What was the punishment for the industry after that exposé of cruelty and barbarity? It is to provide an extra €2.4 million in subsidies next year, which is incredible. It seems that when it comes to this cruel practice, the Government has deep concern, but even deeper pockets. It is proposing to hand over almost €20 million next year to line the pockets of the greyhound industry. Without that funding, the industry simply would not survive; it would go away and with it would go the cruelty that comes with greyhound racing.

It is worth looking at what else this money could be spent on. It is ironic that it is the Government that normally tells the left it cannot spend money on everything and it is necessary to make tough choices. The choice the Government is making is to give this money to a cruel industry, as opposed to, for example, the Health and Safety Authority, HSA. The HSA, which is responsible for maintaining workplace health and safety and protects millions of workers in Ireland, gets the same support as the greyhound industry. That is a political choice. We can also talk about the underfunding of our refuges. Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and it is a choice not to put this money into the area of gender violence. It is time to stop subsidising cruelty.

I will briefly respond to the points made by Deputy Sherlock from the Labour Party and, unfortunately, the contributors from Sinn Féin. They do not bode well for my Bill to ban hare coursing, unfortunately. Deputy Sherlock's argument was that we should keep giving this industry money because we buy some animal welfare standards. Animal welfare standards can be set down in law and animal welfare can be insisted upon. It is not necessary that we fund this industry. It is a nonsensical argument to continue funding this cruel industry, which should have its funding removed. We should spend that money elsewhere.

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