Greyhound racing must be defunded and ultimately banned during the lifetime of this government, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on agriculture, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, the Social Democrats have been calling for the phasing out of annual State funding to the greyhound industry, which was allocated almost \u20ac20 million in the last budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly for it being propped up by the taxpayer, the greyhound sector would be a financial basket case and unable to survive from its own resources, largely due to dwindling attendances at race meetings around the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, this is because there is no public appetite for a discredited industry which has been rocked by animal welfare controversies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile of course there are breeders and trainers who care for their dogs, they are operating within a sector where animal abuse, cruelty, injuries, fatalities, overbreeding and culls are common.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was reported today that 202 dogs died from racing injuries last year \u2013 the highest number since Greyhound Racing Ireland started compiling such data \u2013 and there was a 51 per cent increase in deaths and injuries on 2023\u2019s figures. We also know that around 6,000 greyhounds are killed every year, simply because they are not fast enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is compounded by the fact that greyhounds are still classified as an agricultural animal, which allows the industry to circumvent normal animal welfare protections, particularly around canine surgical artificial insemination.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, our calls for greyhound racing to be defunded by the State have fallen on deaf ears. However, what is really needed is an outright ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland is now just one of seven countries where greyhound racing is still legal. Now that the Welsh and New Zealand governments have signalled their intention to ban this so-called sport, Ireland must take similar steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
February 20, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greyhound racing must be defunded and ultimately banned during the lifetime of this government, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on agriculture, said: \u201cFor years, the Social Democrats have been calling for the phasing out of annual State funding to the greyhound industry, which was allocated almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[410,583,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-greyhound-racing","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n