Tens of thousands of euros have been spent on changing the Irish Greyhound Board’s name to Greyhound Racing Ireland and Rasaiocht Con Eireann.
Details of the costly rebranding emerged further to a Dail Question from Catherine Murphy TD (Kildare North, Social Democrats) who asked the “the full cost of the rebrand”. https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2020-10-15a.866
Responding, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue stated: “A brand development project was initiated in 2017 with an external marketing company, Atomic, following a procurement process. The 2017 project was updated in January 2019 to take account of the impending name change of the organisation. The proposal included research, proposition development and creative design. The total cost arising is €64,000 + VAT.”
“Following the name change, necessary work was required to be undertaken by IT contractors on Rasaiocht Con Eireann's website and other IT infrastructure. These costs will be of the order of €10,000 in total,” the Minister added. “All other work including promotional work was carried out by RCE's in-house marketing and IT teams.”
The taxpayer-funded Irish Greyhound Board/Greyhound Racing Ireland can well afford to spend well over €74,000 on two new logos. Since 2001, they have received more than a quarter of a billion euros in state grants, including €16.8 million in 2020. For 2021, they have been promised another €19.2 million (the equivalent of €369,230 for every week of the year). The funding is continuing despite the reality that greyhound racing is a dying activity which has seen track closures, a loss of sponsors and plummeting attendances over the past year.
The Irish Greyhound Board have changed their name and logo but what will not change is the fact that greyhounds will continue to suffer and die. Greyhound racing is inherently cruel, based as it is on overbreeding dogs, using the fastest ones and disposing of those who do not make the grade.
As exposed in RTE’s award-winning "Greyhounds Running For Their Lives" documentary, around 6,000 greyhounds are killed every year because they are not fast enough to win. A report highlighted in the programme estimated that a total of 17,962 greyhounds were culled in Ireland in 2013, 2014 and 2015. They were killed for “failure to produce qualifying times”, “failure to produce desired entry level times” and for an “unacceptable decline in performance”.
Greyhounds also suffer painful injuries and die during race meetings. At tracks around Ireland in the past six years, at least 1,959 greyhounds were injured and 652 were killed.
ACTION ALERT
STOP THE STATE FUNDING FOR GREYHOUND RACING
Another €19.2 million of scarce public funds has been approved for greyhound racing for 2021. Since 2001, greyhound racing has received more than a quarter of a billion euros of taxpayers' money. Please contact your local TDs and demand that they vote against this latest funding.
Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
Urge the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour to stop the funding and back a ban on cruel greyhound racing
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Leo Varadkar TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Eamon Ryan TD
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Alan Kelly TD
Leader, Labour Party
Tel: 067 34190
Email: alan.kelly@oir.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alankellytd/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alankellylabour