Fianna Fáil TD, Shane Cassells, has said that the Irish Government should not be expected to prop up the failing greyhound industry. Speaking at a Public Accounts Committee meeting with the Irish Greyhound Board, the Meath West politician referred to the latest €16.8 million state grant to greyhound racing - "that's €323,000 a week, that's €46,000 a day" - and noted the "quite substantial drop" in attendance at greyhound tracks.
Pointing to "low public support" and an average track attendance of just 319 people per meeting in 2018, he remarked that "there would be more people at a cricket match in Malahide and the Irish Cricket Union doesn't get the colour of €16.8 million."
The massive state funding, he said, "sticks in the craw of many people".
"I have poor unfortunates who have been told that there is no money for home help for their loved ones," he said. "And told that there is no money for a respite centre in my constituency. But this set of accounts for the Greyhound Board records a €2 million increase [in funding] for greyhounds...Without that €16.8 million, greyhound racing would NOT be viable."
In 2017, Deputy Cassells made similar comments at a Public Accounts Committee, highlighting that the Irish Greyhound Board was getting "€300,000 a week from taxpayers' money" at a time when "mothers cannot get occupational therapists for their kids because of a lack of resources, elderly people who cannot get medical cards". Regardless, later that year, he went on to vote in favour of €80 million in funding for horse and greyhound racing and the following year €84 million.
ACTION ALERT
In the past three years, Deputy Cassells has voted in favour of a total of €244 million in funding for horse and greyhound racing. Join us in urging him to side with the vast majority who want this funding stopped. An opinion poll conducted by TheJournal.ie shows that an 80 per cent majority wants the government to permanently end the state grants which are keeping greyhound racing and its associated animal cruelty alive. Petitions urging the government to stop the funding have been signed over 250,000 times.
Email: shane.cassells@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 046 948 7599 or 01 618 3283
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scassells1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shanecassells
Email “I support an end to all state funding to the cruel greyhound industry and a ban on hare coursing” to all Fianna Fáil TDs
billykelleher@eircom.net; sean.haughey@oireachtas.ie; Bobby.Aylward@oireachtas.ie; brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie; johncurranff@gmail.com; Charlie.McConalogue@oireachtas.ie; michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie; john.brassil@oireachtas.ie; darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie; jackie.cahill@oireachtas.ie; john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; mattie.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; michael.moynihan.td@oireachtas.ie; niall.collins@oireachtas.ie; coper@eircom.net; Robert.Troy@oireachtas.ie; thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie; timmy.dooley@oireachtas.ie; barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie; fiona@fiona.ie; declan.breathnach@oireachtas.ie; mary.butler@oireachtas.ie; kevin.okeeffe@oireachtas.ie; dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie; escanlonmcc@eircom.net; sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie; niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie; james@jameslawless.ie; shane.cassells@oireachtas.ie; willie.odea@oireachtas.ie; margaret.murphyomahony@oireachtas.ie; anne.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie; eugene.murphy@oireachtas.ie; jack.chambers@outlook.com; james.browne@oireachtas.ie; john.lahart@oireachtas.ie; lisa.chambers@oireachtas.ie; marc.macsharry@oireachtas.ie; jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie; pat.casey@oireachtas.ie; aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; frankorourke1@gmail.com
Visit the Oireachtas website for more telephone numbers and other contact details for TDs
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/32
Please sign and share our other petitions
Ireland - Ban cruel hare coursing
www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing
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
Tell Gain Pet Nutrition to Stop Sponsoring Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/jimtracy-glanbia-ie-tell-gain-pet-nutrition-to-stop-sponsoring-greyhound-racing
Contact the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, and urge her to permanently stop licensing cruel hare coursing.
Email: josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie or
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan
Shane Cassells at Public Accounts Committee
19 September 2019
"16.8 million euros is what the Irish Greyhound Board gets. That's €323,000 a week. That's €46,000 a day. That's up €2 million since 2016. I know that the funding the dogs get sticks in the craw of many people. I have poor unfortunates who have been told that there is no money for home help for their loved ones. And told that there is no money for a respite centre in my constituency. But this set of accounts for the Greyhound Board records a €2 million increase [in funding] for greyhounds...Without that €16.8 million, greyhound racing would NOT be viable. You'd be goosed. For most sporting organisations, and I was a sports journalist for 15 years, the people coming through the turnstiles are the largest part of their income and they are a good barometre of public sentiment for the organisation. Let's look at the attendance figures - [there has been] a quite substantial drop to 560,000 a year last year...Average attendance at the track would be 319 persons per meeting in 2018. There would be more people at a cricket match in Malahide and the Irish Cricket Union doesn't get the colour of €16.8 million. I have 321 people waiting on home help in Meath. So I have more people waiting for home help than the average attendances. It's galling to me. And the industry has some neck to be in receipt of €16.8 million in state support, with such low public support...If the industry continues to haemorrhage public support which is evident with a drop of 130,000 people in three years, does there need to be a reappraisal of the level of government support? The Exchequer can't be expected to prop up a failing industry..."
Help fund "Ban Greyhound Racing" Billboards in Ireland
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