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IN THE SPACE of two days last week, the Government took a somewhat contradictory approach to animal welfare in this country.
On one hand, the Taoiseach pledged State support for Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park, both of which are facing an urgent financial crisis due to Covid-19 restrictions.
At the same time, the Government was pushing through a motion, without debate, to increase funding for an industry where serious animal welfare issues have been exposed and continue to cause concern.
In 2021, greyhound racing in Ireland will benefit to the tune of €19.2m from the public purse – an increase of €2.4m. This is despite a significant drop in the numbers attending race meetings and declining advertising revenues.
Phenomenal financial support
The industry has received approximately €280m in taxpayer funding since 2000. As turnover from racing activities has steadily declined over the last decade (€32.9m in 2010 to €22.7m in 2017), State funding has increased from €11.9m in 2010 to €16.8m in 2020.
To put it bluntly, the greyhound industry has become a financial basket case and is being kept alive by generous State subventions each year. The Irish Greyhound Board/Greyhound Racing Ireland has not delivered a dividend to the taxpayer in the past 25 years – and is unlikely to do so in the future.
Attendance at greyhound racing meetings fell by 55 per cent between 2008 and 2018 and the combined loss for tracks between 2019 and 2022 is predicted to be €30 million. A 2019 Red C poll found that only 16 per cent of the Irish population agree that the Government should continue to fund the industry.
This is hardly surprising. In the same year, a harrowing ‘RTÉ Investigates’ programme laid bare the horrific treatment of greyhounds by some of those involved in the sport. This is an industry where 16,000 greyhounds are bred each year – 1,000 per cent more than are needed.
Of these, 6,000 are culled for spurious reasons, ranging from a decline in performance to not being fast enough to compete on the track.
While it must be acknowledged that many breeders treat their dogs well, some of those of operating in the shadowy fringes of the industry have carried out acts of unspeakable cruelty to animals.
There have been cases where dogs had their ears cut off to avoid their registered owners being traced; of exported greyhounds enduring 15-hour journeys to the UK in the most appalling conditions; and blatant breaches of regulations by some unscrupulous operators of knackeries, with healthy dogs shot in the head and disposed of for as little as €20.
The overarching appalling standards of care make it difficult to understand the justification for continued State funding. In contributing millions of euros of public money to greyhound racing every year, the Government is propping up an inherently cruel sport which the Irish public has been increasingly rejecting. It is unconscionable and cannot be allowed to continue.
An unwelcome industry in 2020
It is true that improvements have been made in funding for animal care relating to the greyhound industry. However, this was only committed to after significant public pressure in the wake of the 2019 RTÉ investigation.
Tomorrow, the Social Democrats will bring a Private Members’ Motion on this issue before the Dáil. We are calling on the Government to waive the increased funding of €2.4m due to be given to the greyhound industry.
Instead, it should incrementally refocus greyhound racing funding to the welfare of dogs impacted by the industry. There are many cash-strapped animal welfare organisations dedicated to the care and rehoming of greyhounds that could benefit instead.
We also believe that the Government should work towards the gradual phasing out of State support for Irish greyhound racing by 2025. This would allow for a reasonable transition period for a sunset industry that no longer enjoys significant public support.
In the middle of a pandemic, when there isn’t money available for things like domestic violence refuge spaces or disability support services, the Government not only continues to fund greyhound racing but increases the level of funding for the sector.
Our motion seeks to demonstrate our clear commitment to animal welfare. The taxpayer should not be complicit in the Government’s efforts to paper over the cracks of a failing industry where greyhounds are treated as livestock and cruelty is endemic.
Holly Cairns is a Social Democrats TD for Cork South-West. She is the party’s spokesperson for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
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So Minister Naughten if some one is attempting to take their own life every 9 minutes what exactly are you and your government doing about it?
@Kerry Blake: Nothing. Pieta House are doing all the work. And admirably so. TFF Pieta House
Being poor in the countryside is far worse pressure than being in towns and cities where you usually live along with poor peers & so have less stress trying to pretend your coping & in the countryside u have to pay school “voluntry” contributions etc as to not embarrass your kids and yourself among your better off neighbours & thus doing without proper food & clothes for a while. Plus the poor urban school would also have “disavantaged” gov status & more gov funding. Snobby society needs to stop putting so much pressure on everyone to be perfect in every aspect of life. Exams, relationships, housing, careers & car types etc. If people are allowed live their life in their way u will see a huge suicide reduction.
@abcyz: sadly much of this pressure is self inflicted
@George Beckett: No it is snobby peer pressure pure and simple. Snobby people judging and blaming their poorer less well off neighbours
@Kerry Blake: Nothing Kerry they are too busy holding meetings about the dress code and prayers in the Dail …anything other than what they are paid to do.
@abcyz: you are right with that too. I guess we have to control the controllables and ignore them. Easier said than done however.
@Kerry Blake: They’re closing down beds for child mental health. That’s the government’s response to this epidemic. If Leo becomes taoiseach, we can only expect it to get much worse
@Kerry Blake: raise more taxes make life more unbearable make more unreachable deadlines out the blue for people to despair over take their homes sell to vulture funds leave the unemployed with no way out make the working poor skint so they can either eat or pay some bills not all because is unattainable. Cause more despair isn’t that what ALL plastic Tory governments do.
Ah yeah and help the rich who have no real worries three meals a day and credit and a brand new car to look good in their business exploiting the poor so that the so call recovery seem to be real .
@George Beckett: no it is not self inflicted to fear the bills on the post that you cannot make it and the deadlines you cannot afford is not self inflicted
Massive issue with suicide in Ireland? Solution- close off 50% of the beds and don’t recruit psychiatric nursing positions for adolescent mental health services. Very fcuking Irish that is
Maybe the minister would look at funding the systems that help his faux cause. This is a serious matter, one that all of us folk have been living ( we’ve nearly all seen a suicide). We don’t need a minister to reiterate what we have been through. We need a minister that will be able to offer hope, a future, a reason.
Everyone listen rte radio 1 now for Leo and Simon debates
And FG’s policies are behind many of those suicides. They couldn’t care less about ordinary people who have been thrown under a bus to protect wealthy & influential people who are their friends / associates & backers.
@Setrakian: absolutely. I’ve seen many friends loosing everything I seen people all ages worry about everyday I live in fear myself is all Bills and worry . Any simple thing become a massive problem like fix the car to nct if it doesn’t pass you stress extremely as neither you could afford this extra bill and now you didn’t pay your mortgage and there is other three bills coming and if you get stopped they take your car and you can’t afford another and without it you can’t work and you will lose your home for not paying by then you can’t afford food put the money into parts in between getting it fixed you worry about getting it taken away by police . Rich people hasn’t a clue what that is like . That’s just an example I seen happen 3 people this year
Self harm and completed suicide are two completely different things. The minister is demonstrating the irresponsibility he espouses to avoid.
@Ian Moloney: Self harm is a cry for help. Suicide is someone who is beyond all reasoning with…..
@Kerry Blake: only in a few cases. If help is available people can change their mind.
The important message here is if you are reading this message and feeling suicidal please seek help.
There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Google how did it feel to commit suicide on Internet forums and you will see how thankful those people are that they failed.
There is no shame in seeking help.
It rips families apart, with knock on effects on the following generation. I know from experience sadly.
That is an incredibly high number. Quite shocking. How are these statistic gathered? If accurate this is actually the greatest crisis the country is facing.
That’s right minister, our suicide rates (especially among young people) are among the highest in Europe. Never mind reporting, what is YOUR government going to do about it? Not enough Jigsaw type projects. No funding to implement whole school approaches to youth mental health and suicide prevention in schools. Disgraceful lack of Children & Adolescent Mental Health services and beds. That is YOUR responsibility. Saying you can’t recruit staff without paying them more is not good enough.
Do your job and ensure that our children and young people have the services they need to support their mental health and help them when they are suffering from mental health difficulties. It is a national tragedy and shameful that are statistics are so appalling. You must do whatever it takes to change it.
Can we please stop using the term ‘committed suicide’…it is no longer a crime in this country, thankfully…we seem to be so caught up on being PC about everything except this…when in fact it is quite important to families…
Mr Naughten seems more concerned with the perception of information around the issues, than the addressing of the issues themselves. Just another talking head political prop, suggesting the blame for uploaded material is with the chosen platform, not the uploader & the particular incident he referred to can hardly be said to be that. Dail privilege will still be applicable though so the only concerns there are with “fake news” is from the media sources that propagate it
Cant comment on seanie. Comment on next one up. How can i also get a slice of the taxpayer cake.
Who owns this wknr ok a news site
Defence Forces have a known suicide problem since an “independent third party” study in 2005 showed a higher than expected suicide rate. So the military authorities are aware of the problem as is the Department of Defence.
So imagine the surprise when, in a response to a Parliamentary Question by Aengus O Snodaigh, the Minister for Defence Paul Kehoe admitted the Defence Forces DON’T BOTHER keeping suicide statistics.
So much more needs to be done honestly it goes so much deeper than organisations as someone who suffered from suicidal ideation a lot we need to provide people with the tools of self awareness
Talk therapy , meditation reiki get successful survivors involved who have made their way out of it. I don’t see a lot to praise with current system I’m sorry to say.
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