A Senator nominated to Seanad Eireann by the Irish Greyhound Owners and Breeders Federation has failed in his bid to be re-elected in the 2020 Seanad election.
Brian Ó Domhnaill was hoping to regain his seat on the agricultural panel but was eliminated on the 12th count.
Brian Ó Domhnaill received a nomination to Seanad Eireann from the IGOBF which supports greyhound racing and hare coursing.
In the past, Ó Domhnaill described greyhound racing as "wonderful" and pushed for the government to continue giving millions of euros of taxpayers’ money to the activity – this despite acknowledging major governance and dog drugging problems and conceding that the industry is losing money and is “near collapse”.
In a December 2016 Seanad speech, he stated: “I wish to question the modus operandi of the Irish Greyhound Board, which is in receipt of a taxpayer subsidy of €285,000 per week this year. However, its level of communication with and flow of information to the Irish Greyhound Owners And Breeders Federation, which represents the owners and breeders of greyhounds in this country, is abysmal and shocking to say the least...This is a wonderful industry and it deserves to be supported by the State. The industry is being significantly supported by the State but, unfortunately, it appears that it continues to lose money. The State agency involved refuses to engage with the breeders and owners of greyhounds. That is shocking, alarming and unacceptable...the Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle, has written to me recently about his own efforts to bring in legislation for the greyhound industry. I cannot emphasise enough, however, the need to do this quickly to save this great industry from its near collapse and to secure its future.”
In 2012, he questioned if the Animal Health and Welfare Act would affect hare coursing, a cruel bloodsport involving unleashing dogs to chase hares netted from the wild.
"What about animal sports, or even, by a further extension, pest control?" he asked in a Committee Stage speech. "There are sports such as stag hunting that we are not too used to up in Donegal, but there are many other sports such as hare coursing. Where does that fall with regard to section 12? The section states: “A person shall not … do, or fail to do, anything or cause or permit anything to be done to an animal that causes injury.” Where does that leave the area of sports? Does it have any effect? I know there is other legislation dealing with sports, but where does it leave horse racing, for example?"
Also unsuccessful in the 2020 Seanad election was Fine Gael's Pat Deering, who lost his seat in the recent general election. In the past, he voted against a ban on cruel hare coursing and backed €244 million in state funding for horse and greyhound racing. As reported by KCLR Radio in 2016, he outrageously "described as invalid, claims by animal rights activists that hare coursing represents cruelty to animals". His director of elections in the 2011 General Election was Phil Meaney – “a member of the executive committee of the Irish Coursing Club and a member of the finance committee of the Irish Coursing Club”.
Speaking as chairman at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine - ahead of submissions by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports and the Greyhound Rescue Association detailing the cruelty and killing in greyhound racing - Deering declared: "I would like to put on the record here – as regards the whole greyhound bill – that the chairperson of the Irish Greyhound Board, Mr Phil Meaney, who will be coming before us to give a presentation, is a personal friend of mine."
Former TD and supporter of greyhound racing and hare coursing, Kevin O’Keeffe (Fianna Fail, Cork East), was also unsuccessful in the Seanad election. As a TD he also voted against a ban on hare coursing. In 2016, he farcically claimed that "those who partake in coursing respect and love nature" and that "in many ways, they are more respectful of nature and endangered species than those who claim to be against blood sports". He is the son of pro-bloodsports former TD Ned O’Keeffe who, as a pig farmer in 1995, ridiculously called for a ban the children’s film, Babe, over fears that it would cause a drop in the sale of pig meat.
Election vote counting is continuing to fill the other Seanad panels.
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