Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

It will come as no surprise to the Minister that I and the Social Democrats will not be supporting this motion. I am speaking specifically about the greyhound industry. This is not a technical matter, it is a question of ethics, accountability and the use of public money. The cruelty in the greyhound industry is well documented and undeniable. While on Irish tracks these dogs are regularly recorded with broken legs, crushed vertebrae, ruptured tendons and catastrophic spinal injuries. Some of these injuries are so severe that the dogs are euthanised on-site. Some can be treated but they are not economically worth it for the industry. Greyhounds are routinely killed simply because they cannot run fast enough. How could I support this motion to approve €20 million in public money for Greyhound Racing Ireland?

The Minister has claimed that animal welfare standards are rising all the time. How can that claim stand against the overwhelming evidence? Last year was the worst year ever for track deaths and injuries since records began. Some 202 dogs died and 187 were injured. In the first eight months of this year alone, 242 injuries were recorded, and 134 dogs were euthanised by track vets. Since 2014 there have been 3,938 injuries and 1,534 deaths have occurred during races. That is only what is recorded. There are no comprehensive figures for trial events and there no vets present at those events, so the real figures are undoubtedly much higher. Traceability was presented as the solution, but instead it has just exposed the depth of the crisis. According to Greyhound Racing Ireland's own system, of the greyhounds born in 2021, 41% are dead or unaccounted for. These dogs are not even five years old. RTÉ's 2019 documentary, "Greyhounds: Running for their Lives", revealed the same mortality rate. Six years on nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. Does that look like an improvement in welfare to the Minister?

Then there is the cost. GRI claims to spend millions on welfare, but the figures tell a different story. In 2024, more than €1 million was spent on care homes for retired greyhounds. That was over €8,000 per dog and only ten dogs at a time can be cared for. We are being asked to approve a motion that allocates almost €20 million to prop up a declining industry. We are one of only seven countries in the world where commercial greyhound racing is still legal, and that industry does not even enjoy public support. Tracks are between 70% and 91% empty. Attendance dropped by 25,000 last year alone. Why are we spending millions to sustain a system that produces broken bones and early death? It is a system within which animals are treated as commodities rather than living beings.

I cannot possibly support this motion when we do not have up-to-date or reliable data to prove its need. The economic justification for this funding rests on the Jim Power report, published in 2021 and based on figures from 2019. That report claims the industry is worth €132 million and supports 4,500 jobs. However, an alternative professional's review found that the report overstated the industry's value by €68 million. The Jim Power report included hare coursing litters and dogs from Northern Ireland, and it used incorrect assumptions about racing and retirement ages.

How can we justify this level of public funding without current and credible data? For everything I have laid out I cannot support this motion, and the Social Democrats will not be supporting it. We will also not be supporting the Labour Party amendment because that in itself is giving an out for the industry. The funding for this industry needs to stop. I cannot understand how the Minister could possibly put forward this motion or whose interests he is really lobbying for with it. He is clearly not here on behalf of greyhounds, and he is not representing the views of the Irish public. This is another year where we have this debate about greyhound racing and the use, indeed the wastage, of €20 million of public money on this industry. It is an industry that is cruel, that is not supported by the public and that belongs in the past. Twenty million euro is such an enormous amount of money. Can you imagine the good that €20 million could do? That €20 million could be used to fund hospices for children because at the moment those hospices have to fundraise to keep their doors open. That money could be used to build refuges for women. We have International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women this week and there are nine counties in this country that do not have refuges for women who face domestic violence. That money would go a long way to supporting women who face that horror at home every day. It could be something simple like making sure that hospital parking is free for people who need it regularly. There is so much good that could be done every year with €20 million and there are so many people who need it.

To the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, I know many of the greyhound owners love their animals but not all of them do. There are inherent problems in this industry that are not getting any better. I agree with my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, that this is not a rural-urban divide. I grew up on a working-class estate and you would often see the greyhound owners out walking their dogs. They loved their dogs as well. There is a difference between accepting that people can love greyhounds and handing over €20 million to support an industry that should not exist anymore in this country. It simply should not. This is about where we put our money, what value we put on that money and what we prioritise in this country. My preference, and that of the Social Democrats, would be that money is used for the public good, and that we look particularly at vulnerable people in our country to see where the gaps are and what we need to do to support them and put that money there instead.

It should not be going to a dying industry like greyhound racing.

The Social Democrats, year in, year out, will vote against this motion. We express our concerns about the industry. We call on the Government to do something about it and ask that it not waste public money here. We are one of the very few Opposition parties that have called for this to end. I know People Before Profit and Solidarity have also. It is very important to us as a party that public money is spent for the good of the public and not on a very small group of people, a huge number of whom cannot look after the animals they purport to love.

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