Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

First, I acknowledge the victory by Zohran Mamdani in the mayor of New York election and congratulate him on it. It is a victory for positive, fact-based politics and is a rare light of hope in a very depressing political world. I wish him well. It is important for all of us that he is successful.

I wish to address the State's continued uncritical willingness to grant Exchequer funding to Greyhound Racing Ireland in spite of rampant animal welfare abuses and a complete lack of transparency. Greyhound Racing Ireland received €19.8 million in budget 2026, bringing the total amount of taxpayers' money handed over to greyhound racing since 2001 up to €387 million. When we look at the League of Ireland, it got €3 million in one year and is expected to be grateful for it. Greyhound Racing Ireland gets €19.8 million. It is insane. I hope this is an issue that is discussed thoroughly before this allocation is approved. There are valid concerns regarding animal welfare in the greyhound industry, particularly regarding breeding practices and humane treatment during and after races. I have raised the barbaric practice of surgical artificial insemination a number of times in the House but that is only one of the many abuses committed against greyhounds in Ireland. This is prohibited when it comes to any other type of dog. The State has a responsibility to ensure the well-being and welfare of greyhounds involved in the industry and I am deeply concerned by the lack of scrutiny given to the greyhound industry and its increasing allotment of taxpayer funding. I recognise that greyhound racing provides social and economic benefits in specific communities but it is vital that any State funding to this sector bring with it full transparency and accountability in terms of how it is spent. Recent research has revealed that hundreds of greyhounds are dying each year due to racing. In the first eight months of this year, 242 greyhounds suffered injuries at races and more than half of those were euthanised by track vets. In 2024, 202 greyhounds died on the track or shortly after, amounting to roughly 5% of all active racing greyhounds that year. This poses a serious question about how dogs are being treated during races and if their owners are genuinely concerned with their well-being as living animals or if they are solely regarded as vehicles for gaining a profit. Likewise, there is a clear lack of efficiency when it comes to the greyhound industry setting up care homes for retired greyhounds and the value of the public money being spent for this purpose. I have raised this with the public accounts committee and hope this will be heard and investigated soon. In March 2021, there was a commitment that there would be four care homes set up for greyhounds by the industry but only two have been set up since then. Last year, these two care centres got €291,000 between them in funding but only managed to re-home 36 dogs. It puts the bike shelter to shame. It is up there with the bike shelter and it is to be condemned. In comparison, care dog homes set up and run by dog welfare professionals separate from the industry are able to provide for multiples more at a fraction of the cost. Many of the rescue centres do not get State funding but have to fundraise. They do immense work and are significantly more efficient than the greyhound racing care homes.