Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Greyhound racing has been in decline for decades but the Government has handed the greyhound industry €94 million over its term in office. It has increased funding this year by €4.1 million. This year, like every other year, I have to ask why. Why is the Government so insistent on propping up this industry? Why is it so insistent that greyhound racing is an integral part of our culture when race tracks are virtually empty around the country?

Ireland is one of only seven countries in the world where commercial greyhound racing is still legal in 2024. In one of those countries, the US, it only remains legal in five states. Is it any wonder it has been banned everywhere else?

After RTÉ revealed in 2019 that as many as 6,000 dogs per year were being culled for not being fast enough, the greyhound board introduced a deeply flawed traceability system in 2021. Non-coursing greyhounds are only registered on the system at 12 weeks and only if born in the Republic; no dogs born in the North are included. There is no way of knowing the extent of the overbreeding problem if we do not know how many dogs are born in a given year. Thousands of dogs have been bred and then destroyed because they did not make the cut. Destinations of exported dogs, other than the UK, are not recorded on the system despite the fact we know Irish greyhounds are still sold to China and Pakistan, both countries with horrendous animal rights records. According to that 2021 data, of the 7,135 greyhounds registered as still being in Ireland, 27%, or 1,951 dogs, are dead. More than 60% of those dogs do not have a listed reason for death.

The Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine's report on dog welfare noted there is virtually no oversight or transparency concerning canine artificial insemination, a process so dangerous for dogs it is banned in the UK. Somehow it is still legal here, all to facilitate the rampant overbreeding of greyhounds which is a hallmark of the industry.

Why will the Government not acknowledge what the overwhelming majority of the country clearly knows, which is that greyhound racing is a cruel industry with no place in a modern society? Of course there are breeders and trainers who love and care for their dogs, but they operate in an industry with rampant animal welfare abuses, injuries, fatalities, overbreeding and culls. The public is not behind it and tracks are emptying, yet the Government continues to keep the industry on life support, throwing millions in taxpayer's money at it every year. The continued support of political parties in government and opposition for State funding of this cruel industry shocks me every year.

The Green Party stance remains a particular disappointment, having had a long-standing position of opposing the practice. The Labour Party has tabled an amendment calling for a revising of the funding model, clearly not opposing the principle of propping up the industry with the public purse. Last year Sinn Féin voted in favour of the funding and I hope this will not be repeated tomorrow evening. I fully expect the motion will pass despite all these glaring unaddressed issues, not with the support of the majority of the public but somehow with the support of the majority of parties in this Chamber.

One of the things that has stood out to me since becoming elected is the power of an organised lobby group. The greyhound racing industry's lobby epitomises this. An industry in decline gets this level of funding while other worthwhile causes, such as disability services, eating disorders and domestic violence services, are underfunded year after year. They do not have the same organised lobbies, and public funding to the greyhound racing industry is constantly met.

The importance of the industry to the survival of rural communities is fantasy. If parties in this Chamber are so convinced of its importance and its popularity, why not let it survive on a commercial basis? The Minister of State, the Government, the Labour Party, Sinn Féin and some Independent TDs do not want this because they all know the support is not there. They know the industry would simply collapse without the annual handout of taxpayers' money. When will they face reality and end the State subsidy for this cruelty?

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