Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I, too, wish to raise the matter of greyhound welfare as discussed at the Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine yesterday. I will address the matter of animal welfare, especially in the greyhound sector. I speak in opposition to the increase in funding of €2.4 million to the greyhound industry, which brings to €19.2 million the amount of public funds they will receive. I understand the importance of the greyhound sector to the local economy, and in particular for rural jobs, and there are members here today who rightly speak about that. It cannot be denied, however, that the attendance levels at greyhound race meetings have dropped by 55% since 2008. I am no expert but any industry that is faced with this type of decline in interest surely has to stop and ask what is going on and why are people turning off from what it has to offer.

I am no fan of greyhound racing. Personally it is not my bag. I do not like rugby either but at least rugby players get a choice in the matter of participating. I know a lot of people who love greyhound racing and I know many people who have attended racetracks as part of their work outings and social gatherings. One thing that continues to come up as to why those types of social gatherings are becoming less popular in workplaces and for communion, confirmation and birthday parties is that people are being turned off by the issues of animal welfare.

I am sure that the majority of greyhound owners treat their animals very well, but we cannot ignore that we have very serious issues around animal welfare in this country, and particularly in this industry. In 2009, on the back of a disgusted greyhound breeder who turned whistleblower, The Irish Sunran a story about unwanted retired greyhounds being shot with bolt guns for as little as €10. In 2019, RTÉ broadcast an exposé called "Greyhounds Running for Their Lives" that showed very little had improved in the situation during the intervening ten years. Despite protestations by the Irish Greyhound Board about that programme, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland dismissed the complaints and found that the programme was fair, impartial and balanced. It is now one year later. Yes, Rásíocht Con Éireann, RCÉ, will say the situation has improved since that show, that it is ring-fencing funding for animal welfare, that it is implementing a traceability system, and that it is setting up care centres and working with animal welfare organisations to rehome the retired greyhounds. However, there are still concerns regarding that industry.

With any public funding that goes to an industry the public has a right to know that it comes with full transparency, accountability and the highest possible standard of animal welfare. The 10% care fund that we keep hearing about from RCÉ includes the cost of setting up and managing the traceability system. Anyone in industry will say that if traceability is a requirement of an industry, it is an operating cost. That is not an animal welfare cost and it should not be coming from the animal welfare budget. It is also vital that when this public traceability system goes up, it is completely publicly accessible and that the greyhound will be followed from birth to retirement to death. There needs to be an independent and rigorous inspection system of all greyhound breeders with regular reporting in a timely manner, again on a publicly accessible database.

While I would much rather the RCÉ code of conduct was put on a statutory basis, the bare minimum that we should expect is that any individuals who are involved in the receipt or distribution of money that comes from the care fund, which is public money, should be in full compliance with the RCÉ code of conduct. If evidence emerges, and I would recommend that people do a bit of googling, to show that there are people who are not in compliance with the code of conduct, they should be removed from any role involving the management or receipt of the animal welfare fund. That includes breaching the code of conduct on the sale or export of greyhounds to countries that do not have similar or higher standards of animal welfare to Ireland.

It is ridiculous that we give public money to an industry that deliberately overbreeds and then praises itself for using the same public money to address the consequences of the overbreeding. It is completely inappropriate that thousands of greyhounds are bred every year only to be then sent to shelters for rehoming, including transporting them across the Atlantic to the US, and what that might do for carbon footprints. Greyhound breeders are repeatedly given permission for their bitches to breed in excess of what is recommended and set out in law under the Welfare of Greyhounds Act. There absolutely has to be a cap on the number of greyhounds being bred. It is simply unsustainable to produce 6,000 dogs every year and then expect to find homes for them. These animals live for 14 years. Where are all these dogs going? Where are we rehoming them to? Yes, we all know that greyhounds make great pets and they are beautiful animals, but they are sighthounds and they have particular needs and requirements.

I put it to the Minister that the greyhound industry has a choice. It can clean up its act, implement a humane breeding policy, and can have full traceability and accountability, or it can continue with this business as usual approach. In that case, all that will happen is more and more people will get turned off from the industry. People are turning away in their droves because of the animal welfare issues. I get it that people have said it is important for rural jobs, but they need to clean up their act and address the animal welfare issues. That is the only way this will be sustainable. Public money cannot come without standards and, without the evidence to date, I cannot justify any increase in funding to the industry.

I agree with Senator Hoey that there are animal welfare organisations doing incredible work on a pittance.