Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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553. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will end the provision of State grants for greyhound racing and ban greyhound exports given the growing movement against the cruelty involved which has prompted the recent announcement by a United Kingdom-based organisation (details supplied) that it is to minimise the importation of greyhounds from Ireland to the UK; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31407/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ) is a commercial state body, established under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958 chiefly to control greyhound racing and to improve and develop the greyhound industry. RCÉ is a body corporate and a separate legal entity to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Neglect or causing unnecessary suffering to any animal is unacceptable in our society and my Department is fully committed to the ongoing promotion and enforcement of high animal welfare standards. Animal welfare is central to this Department’s engagements with the greyhound sector and funding to Rásaíocht Con Éireann is contingent on animal welfare measures being implemented.

Since 2021, this Department has ring fenced 10% of the RCÉ allocation from the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund for welfare measures including integrity. In December 2021 this Department announced record funding of over €3.7 million to animal welfare organisations including those concerned with the welfare of all canines. The Programme for Government includes an undertaking to double our funding on animal welfare in line with policy priorities, and I am fully committed to this undertaking.

Rásaíocht Con Éireann has informed my Department that it has reviewed the welfare strategy recently published by GBGB. RCÉ is committed to international collaboration with regulators in other jurisdictions to ensure that high welfare standards are maintained in Ireland and abroad. RCÉ’s ongoing commitment to greyhound welfare is manifest in its continued participation in the International Greyhound Forum. Importation and transportation of greyhounds between the two jurisdictions occurs under certification and permit issued by my Department and the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK and is in line with European Union standards.

RCÉ remains committed to the protection of the integrity of the greyhound industry and to promoting the welfare of greyhounds, and that all necessary resources are being committed to these ends.