Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Everybody here is entitled to their say, but it is difficult to hear other Deputies standing up and talking about cruelty in this sector. Of course, there are people who may not be right at any sector of life, but the vast majority of people who have greyhounds and dogs adore them, and if it is horses, they adore them. Those people live for their animals and care for them and nurture them and want to protect them. They also, of course, want to have sport with them, because that is what this is all about.

When it comes to funding, however, I want money to be provided, but I also want it to be used well. Greyhound Racing Ireland must be forced, as a condition of funding, to engage proactively with all stakeholders. The body can no longer be allowed to alienate the very people it was established to serve, namely, those people who adore their dogs. For too long, this organisation has operated in a silo capacity and has only been willing to engage with people who did not query its operational objectives. This is wrong. The greyhound industry in Ireland has the capacity to be great. It was great, it can be great and it will be great, but the current operating model is destroying the sector and protecting the elites. It is time for the Minister to intervene and to continue to give funding but also to ensure the same levels of transparency and openness are to be found in the greyhound sector as those that are commonplace with Horse Racing Ireland. There must be absolute transparency and full accountability when it comes to the State funding being allocated to the horse and greyhound racing industries.

It is important because we all want to see our tracks continue and ensure they continue to exist. We want to ensure there is a future as well, however, for the really important people, namely, those people I know and meet on Friday and Saturday nights at the racetrack in Tralee, those people who come there with their vans and their trailers to take their dogs in for a race. As I said, they do not just love their dogs, they adore their dogs. It is wrong for those people to be at home hearing Deputies in this House saying cruelty is rampant. It is an awful brush to cast upon a vast number of people.

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