Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the calls on the Minister to consider or accept some of the amendments that have been tabled by a number of groups. I have my own amendments, which I will go through one by one. Constructive proposals have been put forward by other parties. If accepted, they would mean we will be in a better position next year. I say that after a number of years of rolling through this issue. Again and again, the same issues come up and they are not being properly addressed. It would be good to see something different come through next year. The amendments call for reviews that would put us in a position of having a better proposal and a better set of separate propositions put to the House next year.

I will speak first to amendment No. 5 and thereafter to amendment No. 4 and others. Amendment No. 5 calls for the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund to be separated into two funds. We have heard the business cases for each industry. While there are issues with both, the business case for greyhound racing does not stand up. I say that as somebody who, regardless of the business case, has significant animal welfare concerns.We are seeing those concerns and the damage done by the industry being set aside, not for any meaningful benefit to anybody but to prop up an industry that the public have spoken about with their feet by moving away from it in droves. The very low percentages of support are there. We need to have separate and honest discussions with regard to both of these separate areas next year. I urge that instead of having a single motion, we have two motions before us at that point.

I will focus on amendment No. 4 as someone who agrees with others that we need to phase out greyhound racing in Ireland. To prop it up in the way that is being done, especially when it is becoming, effectively, a breeding industry - one that raises very significant concerns - is unconscionable. In the interim, however, one of the positive measures we have is related to an amendment put forward by myself and Senator Ruane when the Greyhound Racing Act 2019 passed through these Houses. An amendment was inserted at that time requiring a provision for the rehoming of greyhounds. I followed that amendment with great interest because it is one Senator Ruane and I successfully inserted at that time.

I am very concerned that over the past year, it seems the provisions in section 29 around funding for welfare and rehoming seem to be moving backwards. A report in the Irish Examinerin August this year stated that the Irish greyhound racing authority had stopped funding to one of its key welfare programme because it felt the programme was unsustainable or had been deprioritised within its budget, and that it indefinitely paused its relationship with the Irish greyhounds to America programme because of the rates in transporting dogs to the US. Very concerningly, there were signals that the Irish Greyhound Owners and Breeders Federation sent out a reminder and a note to greyhound owners telling them not to use rescue or rehoming services that were critical of the greyhound racing industry, and that the Irish Retired Greyhound Trust, which is effectively funded by the State, should only engage with rehoming services that refrain from criticising the industry, even though rehoming is just a small gesture towards tackling the key issues, one of which is overbreeding. We can rehome, which is important, but if we continue to overbreed to the point where we have thousands of dogs each year that never get to race and thousands of others that are exported, of course, those who care enough to drive and deliver animal welfare and rehoming services will be also critical of a system that is creating a large number of dogs in need of rehoming.

There is a requirement for regulations under section 29. They can be updated but they require consultation with the Minister. I really would appreciate an indication of how he intends to engage with the implementation of section 29. My amendment No. 4 calls for a report showing how the obligation in respect of rehoming has, in fact, been delivered. It seems that many of these schemes that started in section 29 because they were required to are now being pulled away from. Indeed, the funding is being redirected away from welfare and even away from rehoming. The level of track deaths of 29% is a very worrying signal in respect of welfare. If this industry is dying, let it not be the case that it allows many dogs to die first before the industry accepts that its financial model is on its last legs.

I must also discuss my other two amendments. I will be very brief. Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 are in respect of the human rights and equality Acts and the allocation to community projects. This is more targeted at horseracing. There is a public duty in equality and human rights that applies to all public bodies and publicly funded bodies. It would be appropriate for us to look at how some of the funding, for example, the large amounts of funding directed into prizes, might be reallocated towards community projects encouraging, for example, healthy and safe horse ownership in urban areas in response to the 2019 report on Traveller horse ownership-----