"Following this latest hard-hitting report, the Government and opposition parties can no longer claim ignorance of the facts. It’s time to dismantle the greyhound industry and phase it out completely, as the agriculture minister pledged recently to do with fur farming" - Read John Fitzgerald's Letter to the Editor in the Irish Examiner...
It’s time to dismantle greyhound industry
Irish Examiner, July 01, 2019
I hope that politicians of all shades watched the RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme on the greyhound industry. They’ll have seen what hard-earned taxpayer’s money is helping to promote: A discredited industry that many of them have, year after year, blithely praised in the Oireachtas for its alleged contribution to Irish culture and the rural economy.
The programme effectively exposed what campaigners like me have been asserting for years. We were laughed at by the head honchos in the industry. Well-crafted press releases thrashed all the allegations concerning the fate of greyhounds that are cruelly disposed of once their running days are over.
Watching the programme, it was stomach-churning to be reminded of the over-breeding leading to massive culling of these dogs that make wonderful pets; animals whose service and loyalty to their owners is rewarded with a bullet in the head.
Stories have been circulating for years about shallow graves unearthed all over Ireland containing the sad remains of greyhounds. Just isolated incidents, the industry protested, adding that the vast majority of greyhound owners care deeply for their animals. Now we have the truth, in all its stark ugliness.
It turns out that the scene in the darkly comic movie Man About Dog, where the two lads, wielding spades, take an underperforming greyhound away to be clobbered was a reasonably accurate depiction of how the industry operates.
And then there’s hare coursing, which is perfectly legal and an integral part of the industry. Thousands of hares are snatched from the countryside each year to serve as live bait for dogs.
Though muzzled, the dogs can maul the hares or crush their bones. Or they can toss them about on the coursing fields, to a chorus of cheering from the fans. Animal welfare observers who have attempted to record coursing events have been threatened with violence and forcibly removed from the venues — for filming a “sport” whose top brass claims it has nothing to hide.
Some “industry”. It should not receive a single cent of taxpayers’ money, let alone the €16m or so doled out to it annually, thanks to the backing of fawning politicians who, up to now, have chosen to ignore its dark side.
Following this latest hard-hitting report, the Government and opposition parties can no longer claim ignorance of the facts.
It’s time to dismantle the greyhound industry and phase it out completely, as our agriculture minister pledged recently to do with fur farming.
John Fitzgerald
Campaign for the Abolition Of Cruel Sports
Callan, Co Kilkenny
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ICABS ACTION ALERT
Join us in demanding an end to the government’s massive grants to the greyhound industry – €16.8 million for 2019, bringing to around a quarter of a billion euros the amount handed over since 2001. This must be ended. Contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe now.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: @LeoVaradkar
Leave a comment on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
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
Last November, the following 92 TDs voted in favour of another €16.8 million in funding for greyhound racing. Join us in contacting them and demanding an end to funding for an industry that causes so much suffering and death to dogs. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/32
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.
https://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2018-11-29a.238
Please sign and share our other petitions
Stop supporting the cruel greyhound industry
https://www.change.org/p/stop-supporting-the-cruel-greyhound-industry
GAA: Stop club fundraisers at greyhound tracks
https://www.change.org/p/gaa-stop-club-fundraisers-at-greyhound-tracks
Contact the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, and urge her not to issue a licence for another season of cruel hare coursing.
Email "Stop the cruelty. Stop licensing cruel coursing" to
josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie or
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan
Sign the petition: IRELAND BAN CRUEL HARE COURSING
www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing