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Greyhound Racing: The only racing with a FINISHING GUN instead of a starting gun - Read John Fitzgerald’s Letter to the Editor in The Southern Star and please scroll down for action alert...
Greyhound industry’s stance is bemusing
The Southern Star, 26 September 2022
I’m bemused by the Greyhound Racing Ireland’s statement recently that it could not release track attendance figures because this information might be ‘commercially sensitive’.
I cannot imagine another sport (apart from hare coursing, the even darker underbelly of the greyhound industry) that would shy away from letting us know exactly how many people are turning up to support it.
But then, greyhound racing isn’t like other sports. If I were a tennis or soccer player or a swimmer I wouldn’t expect the whack of a spade over the head if I underperformed or my career was over or to be exported to Spain where I might end up hanging from a tree, or to Southern China to be boiled alive for the meat market. No, that fate is reserved for one particular breed of Man’s Best Friend.
I could go into graphic detail about what happens to greyhounds in this so-called ‘industry’ but what I’d have to say might prove more than a little ‘commercially sensitive.’ Stomach-churning might be a better term.
I know that attendance figures at tracks were adversely impacted by the RTE Investigates programme "Running for their Lives", broadcast in 2019, which is understandable given that most people like dogs.
Greyhound racing is bad for dogs, to put it diplomatically. It is in fact the only “sport” in Ireland that has a finishing gun instead of a starting one.
John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co Kilkenny.
ACTION ALERT
STOP THE STATE FUNDING FOR GREYHOUND RACING
Join us in demanding an end to the government’s massive grants that are keeping cruel greyhound racing afloat. Greyhound Racing Ireland has received more than a quarter of a billion euros of taxpayers’ money since 2001, including €16.8 million for 2020, €19.2 million for 2021 and €17.6 million for 2022. This is unacceptable and must be stopped. Contact the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Finance Minister now.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01-618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
Email: paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie; minister@finance.gov.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 604 5626
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaschalDonohoe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paschald
Watch RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” documentary
https://youtu.be/ZYTb2qBjlMM