Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. This greyhound stadium has massive potential. There is massive growth in housing in the area. The community needs every piece of sporting infrastructure it can get. It would be shame if an opportunity was missed. As I said, it has been done in the dog track in Galway with Connacht Rugby. Maybe Sport Ireland could intervene. There must be some avenue by which Shelbourne Park greyhound track can reach its full potential because it is currently only operating three nights a week. Office facilities and hospitality suites are not really what are needed. We need sports facilities. Liffey Wanderers is a very successful local football club. Why not ensure that its team can play in the middle of the greyhound track? As I said, there is a shortage of facilities. Nearly 10,000 new people will be moving into the Irish Glass Bottle site, a stone's throw from that facility.

There is a huge opportunity here and it would be a missed if we allowed Shelbourne Park to be sold, redeveloped or dismantled piece by piece.

As I said, the greyhound track is great for people right across the island of Ireland. This is not a criticism of the sport of greyhound racing, but we need to go beyond just greyhound racing to maximise the potential of Shelbourne Park greyhound track to ensure that a number of sports are played in that facility.

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