Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

I will not be supporting this motion. Budget 2026 saw almost €20 million being used to prop up a declining greyhound industry. This industry does not enjoy widespread public support, largely due to the significant and widely known animal welfare concerns. I reject the continuous tying together of the horse racing and greyhound industry funding model. This motion once again binds together the two into a single inflexible funding model. While these regulations appear technical, they have real consequences. Every year, this structure forces the Oireachtas to approve a package that allocates an 80-20 split that is automatic, regardless of performance, public interest or welfare outcomes.

In addition, the greyhound racing industry is totally self-regulated. The result is that greyhound racing receives unconditional public funding, insulated from the scrutiny and accountability we would expect elsewhere. These dogs did not ask for this life. They did not ask for broken legs, crushed vertebrae, dislocated wrists, torn muscles, ruptured tendons or catastrophic spinal injuries, all of which are regularly recorded on Irish tracks, never mind the cruel practice of surgical artificial insemination, which is indeed incredibly barbaric. Some of these injuries are so severe that euthanasia happens on site. Others are treatable, but not economically worth it for the industry. We know dogs are routinely euthanised simply because they cannot run fast enough. The issue of track-related deaths barely scratches the surface of the broader crisis facing the industry. In 2019, we were all very aware of the RTÉ documentary, "Greyhounds Running for Their Lives", which justifiably sparked national outrage by exposing the grim reality that over 6,000 dogs were being put down annually simply for the reason that they could not run fast enough.

Some improvements have been made, but major problems remain, and that shows how deep the crisis is. I am aware that trainers themselves are concerned about the high death rates and track injuries, particularly compared with rates we are seeing in Britain. The figures are appalling. We have heard for years that greyhound welfare is a priority. Why is it that in 2024 we saw more track-related greyhound deaths than ever before? The greyhound industry is not approaching animal protection in a modern or humane way. Traceability has exposed, not solved, the welfare crisis. Greyhounds are still dying at the same rate as they were in 2019. Despite the promised reforms and despite the €400 million we heard was spent on it last year, animal welfare remains very low. The traceability system, far from providing welfare improvements, has exposed just how deep the problem is. According to RCÉ's own system, of the greyhounds born in 2021, the first full year of traceability, 41% are already dead or unaccounted for. These are dogs under five years old. They would be five years old if they were around today but nearly half of them are gone. Last year was the worst on record for greyhound welfare outcomes and yet we continue to hear claims of improvement, including at the agriculture committee last night, based on a six-year-old report that bears no resemblance to present realities.

The evidence could not be any clearer that the industry is failing these animals. The rehoming system is a facade, not a welfare solution. Greyhound Racing Ireland's care homes, as it calls them, and the Retired Greyhound Trust are frequently held up as proof of progress but the truth is stark. Facilities are presented as fostering but they are actually functioning as holding units. More than €1 million was spent in 2024 on this model, which is over €8,000 per dog, and only ten dogs at a time can be cared for. Contrast this with the ISPCA, which, including its enforcement duty, received the equivalent of just under €900 per dog. DEEL Sighthound Rescue in Limerick rehomed 143 dogs last year, 23 of them ex-racing greyhounds, and it received just €15,500 from the State, which was about €75 per dog. It cost DEEL to do the rehoming.

If we truly value animal welfare and taxpayers' money then funding should go to established rescue centres with proven track records, not an industry that has failed to deliver on rehoming and animal welfare. Decoupling these funding streams is the only route to accountability. The coupling of horse and greyhound funding is the primary mechanism protecting the greyhound industry from scrutiny, yet every year, because of the statutory coupling, we are forced to approve both even if we have serious ethical concerns about one of the industries. Without decoupling, nothing changes. With decoupling, accountability for the greyhound racing industry finally becomes a possibility.

Should we not pause to consider that we are one of only seven countries in the world where commercial greyhound racing is even still legal? One of seven. Why are we determined to keep this dying sector on life support? In 2023, greyhound tracks were 70% to 91% empty. Last year, attendance dropped by 25,000. Why are we spending nearly €20 million to sustain a system that produces broken bones and early deaths and where animals are treated as commodities rather than sentient beings? This is not who we are and it is not what we should fund. We are a country of animal lovers but the statistics and stories that come out of the greyhound racing industry do us absolutely no credit when we talk about being animal lovers.

For all these reasons - the injuries, the traceability failures, the cost inefficiencies, the re-homing scandals, the legal classification of greyhounds as agricultural animals and the lack of any meaningful accountability - I cannot support these regulations. More importantly, I am calling for a new, modern funding model, one that decouples horse racing and greyhound racing from each other, evaluates them independently and aligns public funding with public values. Until this reform is delivered, approving these regulations means perpetuating an outdated, unethical and unjustifiable system within the greyhound racing industry.