Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I am unsure whether the member of the Greyhound Racing Ireland will take up the challenge from Deputy Cairns for a public debate, but I know one thing: if the debate has already started, I think he is losing it heavily at this stage.

I intend to focus on the greyhound side of the funding. The proposal is for €96 million to go to the Horse and Greyhound Fund.

One fifth of that money goes to the greyhound industry, which is a little over €19 million. This industry cannot be separated in its format from cruelty to animals. Some 6,000 dogs are culled every year because they are not able to race at the level which the owners want them to and it is not therefore profitable. I understand that all but eight countries worldwide have banned it at this stage. We are one of those eight laggards which have not done so. What is the Government proposing to do? It is proposing to give the industry more money and increase its funding by €2.4 million. That will be €280 million since 2000 which has been given by the taxpayer and the State to the greyhound industry.

While State funding is going up, the industry itself is going down and is greatly waning in popularity. The figures I have for 2010 to 2017 indicate that the turnover of the industry went from €32.9 million to €22.7 million. It decreased, therefore, by about one third. From 2010 to next year, however, State funding will go from €11.9 million to €19.2 million, and that is an increase of more than 50%. The industry would not be able to continue if was not being propped up by the taxpayer and the State. An industry within which cruelty to animals is inherent should no longer be propped up by the State. There are issues concerning jobs in the industry. It is an important issue and the State should intervene there to provide training, the development of skills and alternative employment for people currently employed in the industry, if it is to go by the wayside. We should not, however, be propping it up.

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