Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

Last week, the Minister for agriculture published the results of the consultation on surgical artificial insemination. This is, as was highlighted, a barbaric practice of which most people are unaware. It is an absolutely sickening practice. The consultation opened on 18 June 2024 and closed at the end of July of that year. There were 606 submissions, with 99% of all submissions being against surgical artificial insemination. I reiterate that 99% of all submissions wanted to ban this practice, with just two people saying it is okay. Even though the Minister has known about the results of the consultation - 99% of submissions want to ban it - for 14 months, he has sat on his hands and allowed the practice of surgical artificial insemination to continue. This is really hard for me to understand. The Government talks about the welfare of greyhounds, but there is zero evidence that it cares about greyhounds, or dogs in general for that matter. I would like to know when the ban is going to be introduced. There is clearly next to zero support among the Irish public. You have to ask yourself why the Minister will not ban this practice now. It is clear that the only requirement demanded of the greyhound industry is that the €20 million in funding it receives every year is spent. There is no accountability or expectation of be value for money. This is obvious when comparing what is achieved by Irish local rescues versus the industry rehoming costs. The industry's much-lauded traceability system is a sham.Unless every single greyhound residing in a registered greyhound premises is included in the traceability system, it is not fit for purpose. We have seen where Irish-born greyhounds brought back to Ireland for breeding are not captured in the system, yet the pups they produce are. Imagine if the bovine traceability system were this ineffectual. It would never be tolerated. Yet when it comes to greyhounds, we turn a blind eye.

The Minister is saying the findings will be part of a legislative process. This will mean more delays, and possibly years of delays, before this barbaric practice would be banned. It cannot be allowed to happen. In 2024, 5% of all greyhounds died on the track or shortly afterwards. That is a shameful stain on the Government’s policy in terms of dog and animal welfare policy. In 2024, 6,000 Irish greyhounds were exported to England to keep the gambling industry going there and to keep it alive. Let us not pretend that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael care about dog welfare. All the evidence shows they do not care about dog and greyhound welfare.