The Business Post has reported (9 May 2021) that Greyhound Racing Ireland is outrageously planning to commission a costly economic analysis to show that the dying greyhound industry is “not in decline”.
Greyhound Racing Ireland says it wants to “present ‘the best case possible’ that the industry is not in decline,” the Business Post report outlined, going on to reveal that GRI CEO Gerard Dollard “told an industry meeting last month that it was needed to counteract the PERCEPTION that the sport is struggling”.
The Business Post quoted him as saying “loose talk on radio and TV shows about the demise of the industry proves why we need to prepare an up to date analysis” and revealed that he “suggested that the cost of dog food could be included in the review as a way of boosting the greyhound industry’s economic activity”. https://www.businesspost.ie/sport/greyhound-industry-to-commission-new-study-to-show-best-case-possible-8dccd518
The article comes less than four months after the Business Post carried an interview with Greyhound Racing Ireland chairman Frank Nyhan who said he “is certain there will be fewer tracks around the country in coming years”.
In the 17th January 2021 feature Nyhan also acknowledged that “an awful lot of people…are instinctively against greyhound racing” and that “we probably didn’t treat animals terribly well in the past”. https://www.businesspost.ie/sunday-interview/the-sunday-interview-frank-nyhan-13cf3856
There is absolutely no doubt that greyhound racing is indeed in decline - as confirmed by an Indecon report commissioned by Greyhound Racing Ireland and published last year.
That report showed that more and more people are turning their backs on cruel greyhound racing, with attendance at tracks around Ireland falling by a massive 15,914 in the first two months of 2020 https://igb.ie/globalassets/report-pdfs/indecon/independent-indecon-assessment-of-issues-arising-on-consultation-submissions-05.05.20.pdf
In January and February 2020 respectively, numbers dropped by 7,232 (30%) and 8,682 (28%), compared to the same period the previous year.
The authors of the Indecon report stated that the “greyhound industry is likely to experience a continued decline in attendance levels” and that the decline will “CONTINUE OR ACCELERATE”.
“The greyhound racing industry in Ireland has witnessed a significant decline in attendance over the last decade,” it stated. “While 1.1 million attended races in 2008, this fell by 55% to just over 0.5 million by 2018.”
Indecon made it clear that “the sector would NOT be financially sustainable if the decline in attendance continues and if the existing cost base is not reduced” and that the losses incurred have only been sustainable because of ongoing support from the state.
The broadcast of RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” led to even more people boycotting tracks. It exposed the horrors, including the killing every year of thousands of greyhounds who are not fast enough to win races. The documentary included horrifying scenes of greyhounds being delivered to a knackery where they were shot in the head and dumped into a skip. One dog was seen writhing on the ground as his merciless owner drove away https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
The latest Business Post article points out that GRI is still planning to spend €2.3 million on Shelbourne Park stadium in Dublin (and that it has “refused several offers to sell Shelbourne Park”).
This expenditure aims, GRI previously stated, to “significantly improve the overall customer experience at the venue”. This despite figures showing that attendance at the Dublin track has plummeted. For example, it sustained a huge 36% drop in attendance in January 2020 – down by 2,168 to 3,752, compared to the same month in 2019. Attendance continued to fall at Shelbourne Park in February 2020 – compared to February 2019, it was down by 41% (3,730) to 5,240.
With a RED C opinion poll showing that a two-thirds majority in Ireland want the government to stop funding greyhound racing, and more than 400,000 signatures on petitions calling for the grants to be scrapped, the government must not hesitate to withdraw all support and finally let cruel greyhound racing die a death.
ACTION ALERT
STOP THE STATE FUNDING FOR GREYHOUND RACING
Since 2001, Greyhound Racing Ireland (formerly the Irish Greyhound Board) has been granted more than a QUARTER OF A BILLION EUROS, including €16.8 million for 2020 and another €19.2 million for 2021. This is unacceptable and must be stopped.
Please contact your local TDs and urge them to oppose this funding. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
“Stop state funding to cruel greyhound racing” - Email all Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour Party TDs.
Fianna Fáil TDs
john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie; brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie; aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; michael.moynihan.td@oireachtas.ie; micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; Charlie.McConalogue@oireachtas.ie; sean.haughey@oireachtas.ie; jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie; darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; jack@jackchambers.ie; anne.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie; eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie; james.lawless@oireachtas.ie; sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie; sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie; barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie; willie.odea@oireachtas.ie; niall.collins@oireachtas.ie; Robert.Troy@oireachtas.ie; dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie; thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie; marc.macsharry@oireachtas.ie; jackie.cahill@oireachtas.ie; mary.butler@oireachtas.ie; james.browne@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie; cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie; james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie; padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie; john.lahart@oireachtas.ie; cormac@cormacdevlin.ie; normafoley1@eircom.net; joe.flaherty@oireachtas.ie; Stephen.Donnelly@oireachtas.ie
Fine Gael TDs
JohnPaul.Phelan@oireachtas.ie; Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie; joe.carey@oireachtas.ie; david.stanton@oir.ie; colm.burke@oireachtas.ie; michael.creed@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie; joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie; richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie; Eoghan.Murphy@oireachtas.ie; Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Farrell@oireachtas.ie; emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie; neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie; josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie; Ciaran.Cannon@oireachtas.ie; hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie; Brendan.Griffin@oireachtas.ie; bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie; Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie; charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie; kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie; Patrick.O'Donovan@oireachtas.ie; peter.burke@oireachtas.ie; fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie; alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie; michael.ring@oireachtas.ie; helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie; damien.english@oireachtas.ie; frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie; paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie
Green Party TDs
Eamon.Ryan@greenparty.ie; catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie; patrick.costello@oireachtas.ie; francisnoel.duffy@oireachtas.ie; neasa.hourigan@oireachtas.ie; brian.leddin@oireachtas.ie; steven.matthews@oireachtas.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie; joe.obrien@oireachtas.ie; marc.ocathasaigh@oireachtas.ie; roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie;
ossian.smyth@oireachtas.ie
Sinn Fein TDs
john.brady@oireachtas.ie; pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Crowe@oireachtas.ie; david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie; Pearse.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; dessie.ellis@oir.ie; kathleen.funchion@oireachtas.ie; martinkennysf@gmail.com; MaryLou.McDonald@oireachtas.ie; denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie; imelda.munster@oireachtas.ie; eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie; donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie; aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie; louiseoreillysf@gmail.com; maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie; Brian.Stanley@oireachtas.ie; mark.ward@oireachtas.ie; chris.andrews@oireachtas.ie; martin.browne@oireachtas.ie; matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie; sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie; roseconwaywalsh@eircom.net; reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie; pa.daly@oireachtas.ie; paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie; mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie; thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie; johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie; claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie; padraig.maclochlainn@oir.ie; johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie; ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie; darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie; patriciaryan975@gmail.com; pauline.tully@oireachtas.ie; vwynne@gmail.com
Labour Party TDs
sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie; aodhan.oriordain@oireachtas.ie; duncan.smith@oireachtas.ie; gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Kelly@oireachtas.ie; brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie
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Watch RTE’s award-winning "Greyhounds Running For Their Lives" documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM