Ireland's greyhound industry is a "failure" with rising debts and plummeting attendance and sponsorship - and the decline looks likely to continue. That's the assessment of the Irish Greyhound Owners and Breeders Federation (IGOBF), a body representing those involved in greyhound racing and hare coursing. An IGBOF statement seen by ICABS reveals that a meeting held in June at the Department of Agriculture involved a "detailed discussion on the decline of the industry"... - Tote at the Irish Greyhound Board has fallen from €48 million in 2007 to €24 million in 2011 to €19.9 million in 2014 - Attendance has fallen from 1.28 million in 2007 to 756,000 in 2011 to 644,000 in 2014 - Sponsorship has fallen from €2.09 million in 2007 to just €879,000 in 2014. Present at the meeting were Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Andrew Doyle and the Department's Assistant Secretary General, Brendan Gleeson. Among the issues covered was the "worrying" decline in the breeding of greyhounds. Quoted figures from the Irish Coursing Club show that "the number of active owners have declined from 9,826 to 5,940 in the period 2011 to 2015 and in spite of the breeding incentive introduced in April 2016, matings for the first five months of 2016 are 10% less than the same period in 2015." Also discussed were rising debts at the Irish Greyhound Board and soaring staff costs, said to be €8.3 million in 2014 compared to €7.05 million in 2011. Questions were raised at the meeting about why there are no figures available for the number of people employed in the greyhound industry - "[The Assistant Secretary General of the Dept of Agriculture] agreed that any industry that was in receipt of Government funding would be obliged to disclose how many people were employed in the particular industry. He could not give any explanation as to why nobody knew how many people worked in the greyhound industry. The Minister thought that this was information that IGB should be able to provide but Mr Gleeson was reluctant." The IGOBF went on to say that they "don’t expect any figures to be made public as this would only highlight the failure of the industry." The issue of "illegally registered dogs" also came up for discussion, with fears expressed about legal challenges being launched if illegal dogs were disqualified or if illegal dogs won races - "Cross your fingers and pray that nobody beaten by an illegal dog goes to their solicitor." In relation to the problem of greyhound doping, those at the meeting were told that the Morris report "would answer all issues". Minister Doyle was questioned about why the IGB "had the report for twelve months but refused to publish it". The Irish Greyhound Board was also criticised by the IGOBF in relation to finances - "The IGB is devoid of ideas and has now become totally dependent on government funding. The general public perception which will become more negative due to the failure to address welfare issues suggests this money may not always be available." The statement concludes: "Having spent over an hour in the company of the Minister and Brendan Gleeson, the two most influential people regarding the direction of the Irish greyhound industry, I expect the decline of the industry will continue. Read the full statement at http://igobf.ie/wp/?p=573 ACTION ALERT Please sign and share our petition Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Industry https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-industry Given the ongoing fall in attendances at tracks, it is clear that the general public has little interest in greyhound racing. The Irish Government must stop wasting precious funds on this dying industry. An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny Department of the Taoiseach, Government Buildings, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2 Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020 Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie Tweet to: @EndaKennyTD Michael Noonan Minister for Finance Email: michael.noonan@oireachtas.ie Telephone: +353 (0)1-6764735 Michael Creed TD Minister for Agriculture Department of Agriculture Agriculture House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Email: michael.creed@oir.ie Tel: +353 (0)1-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510. Fax: +353 (0)1-661 1013. Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd Tweet to: @creedcnw Andrew Doyle TD Minister of State, Dept of Agriculture Email: andrew.doyle@oireachtas.ie