Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has announced that he has “no plans to cease funding” for the cruel and crumbling greyhound industry.
The Minister was responding to Dail Questions this week from TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly.
Mick Wallace TD (Independent, Wexford) asked the Minister “his views on continued funding for the greyhound industry in view of a recent report that the company that broadcasts Irish greyhound racing globally informed the Irish Greyhound Board in October 2018 that greyhound racing here has a serious integrity problem due to doping and irregular betting patterns”. In her question, Clare Daly TD (Independent, Dublin North) asked the Minister “his views on whether it is appropriate to continue funding the greyhound industry in view of the recent assessment by sports information services”.
Stating that he has no plans to end the funding - which amounts to around a quarter of a billion euros since 2001, including €16.8 million for 2019 - Minister Creed pointed to a 2017 report by economist Jim Power which he claimed “calculated that there are 5,058 full and part-time jobs within the sector”
This jobs claim (based on figures presented by the Irish Greyhound Board itself), is used by the government to justify the transfer of millions of euros of taxpayers’ money ever year to greyhound racing. The figure has previously been ridiculed as “almost laughable” and “more than questionable”.
As reported earlier this month by ICABS, the Irish Greyhound Owners and Breeders Association issued a statement recently in which they said “claims from the Irish Greyhound Board that the industry employs in excess of 5,000 people are FARCICAL”.
“The IGB tries to validate this figure by claiming that this is the figure that independent economic consultant, Jim Power, has calculated,” the IGOBF outlined in its statement. “However, when you read Jim Power’s report, Power states that he has received this figure from the IGB.” An extract from the report is presented in which it is clear that the source of the claimed employment figures is the Irish Greyhound Board itself.
In 2016, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed claimed that the greyhound industry "employs over 10,300 people". A few months later, he admitted that the Irish Greyhound Board "currently directly employs 128 full time staff and approximately 720 part time staff".
The thousands of jobs claim has been ridiculed at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Labour Party's Willie Penrose said: "Some people tell me that the estimate that there are 10,000 people employed in the industry is such a gross over-estimate that it's almost laughable." Deputy Penrose restated his doubts about the figure during a subsequent speech in Dail Eireann, referring to it as an "old figure".
Minister of State Andrew Doyle told the Dail at the time that "a report by the economist Jim Power in 2010 estimated the greyhound industry employed over 10,300 people", to which Willie Penrose replied: "Jim Power's report was produced six or seven years ago. Let us come into reality."
"The figure is more than questionable and does not stand," he added.
Sinn Fein's Martin Kenny TD (Sligo-Leitrim) has echoed these doubts - "I wonder about the quality of these jobs and whether they are counted as whole-time equivalents as they are in the HSE, schools and other State bodies. How many real jobs are there? For example, Bord na gCon claims there are 10,300 people employed in the greyhound industry. I would love to know where these people work and the basis of the claim that the industry contributes €500 million to the economy each year. I am told by dog breeders and trainers that the greyhound industry is in crisis and will disappear within the decade if radical reform does not take place." https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/videos/1195111127271110
In its latest annual report, published last July, the Irish Greyhound Board's jobs figure had been slashed by over half. It claimed that the government subsidies support "five thousand jobs, directly and indirectly, across 16 tracks nationally". The only evidence of jobs in the report was 125 full time staff at the Irish Greyhound Board and its subsidiaries and 100 race night casual staff.
ACTION ALERT
If your local TDs voted in favour of funding for greyhound racing (see list below), contact them and urge them to stop supporting this cruel industry. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their contact details http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=32&disp=mem
Urge Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to stop funding horse and greyhound racing.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
Email: paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie, minister@per.gov.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 6045810
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaschalDonohoe/
Tweet to @Paschald
HOW TDS VOTED (November 2018)
https://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2018-11-29a.238
VOTED IN FAVOUR OF FUNDING (92)
Bobby Aylward, Maria Bailey, Seán Barrett, John Brassil, Pat Breen, Colm Brophy, James Browne, Richard Bruton, Peter Burke, Mary Butler, Catherine Byrne, Dara Calleary, Seán Canney, Ciarán Cannon, Pat Casey, Shane Cassells, Lisa Chambers, Michael Collins, Niall Collins, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, Simon Coveney, Barry Cowen, Michael Creed, John Curran, Michael D'Arcy, Jim Daly, Regina Doherty, Paschal Donohoe, Timmy Dooley, Bernard Durkan, Damien English, Alan Farrell, Frances Fitzgerald, Peter Fitzpatrick, Seán Fleming, Noel Grealish, Brendan Griffin, Michael Harty, Seán Haughey, Danny Healy-Rae, Michael Healy-Rae, Séamus Healy, Brendan Howlin, Paul Kehoe, Billy Kelleher, Alan Kelly, Seán Kyne, John Lahart, Michael Lowry, Marc MacSharry, Josepha Madigan, Micheál Martin, Helen McEntee, Finian McGrath, Mattie McGrath, Michael McGrath, John McGuinness, Joe McHugh, Tony McLoughlin, Mary Mitchell O'Connor, Kevin Moran, Aindrias Moynihan, Michael Moynihan, Margaret Murphy O'Mahony, Eoghan Murphy, Eugene Murphy, Hildegarde Naughton, Tom Neville, Carol Nolan, Michael Noonan, Darragh O'Brien, Jim O'Callaghan, Willie O'Dea, Patrick O'Donovan, Fergus O'Dowd, Kevin O'Keeffe, Fiona O'Loughlin, Frank O'Rourke, Jan O'Sullivan, Éamon Ó Cuív, Willie Penrose, Thomas Pringle, Michael Ring, Shane Ross, Brendan Ryan, Eamon Scanlon, Seán Sherlock, Brendan Smith, Niamh Smyth, David Stanton, Robert Troy, Katherine Zappone.
VOTED AGAINST FUNDING (26)
Mick Barry, Richard Boyd Barrett, John Brady, Tommy Broughan, Pat Buckley, Joan Collins, Ruth Coppinger, Seán Crowe, Dessie Ellis, Martin Ferris, Kathleen Funchion, Gino Kenny, Martin Kenny, Denise Mitchell, Imelda Munster, Catherine Murphy, Paul Murphy, Jonathan O'Brien, Louise O'Reilly, Eoin Ó Broin, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, Eamon Ryan, Róisín Shortall, Bríd Smith, Brian Stanley.
Dail Questions
12th March 2019
Asked by: Mick Wallace T.D., Clare Daly T.D.
QUESTION
Mick Wallace TD: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine his views on continued funding for the greyhound industry in view of a recent report that the company that broadcasts Irish greyhound racing globally informed the Irish Greyhound Board in October 2018 that greyhound racing here has a serious integrity problem due to doping and irregular betting patterns; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Clare Daly TD: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine his views on whether it is appropriate to continue funding the greyhound industry in view of the recent assessment by sports information services (detailed supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed (Fine Gael, Cork North West): Bord na gCon 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.
In relation to the comments made in the article on betting, any patterns of irregular betting that are brought to the attention of Bord na gCon are investigated and if necessary, the results of any investigation are forwarded to An Garda Síochána.
I consider the greyhound sector to be an integral part of many regions within Ireland and as a source of pride and enthusiasm for participants and spectators. A report by Economist Jim Power in November 2017 calculated that there are 5,058 full and part-time jobs within the sector, with a further 7,313 greyhound owners deriving economic benefit from the industry. The impact of this employment creates €171 million in additional spending while the greyhound owners contribute €135 million in spending. The national industry therefore contributes €300 million in additional economic activity.
For these reasons I have no plans to cease funding for the sector.