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Virgin Media received €40,000 from Greyhound Racing Ireland to televise two race meetings last September, it has emerged.
The company shamefully disregarded appeals to reject the cruel, dog-killing activity and went on to broadcast the two Shelbourne Park Stadium meetings in September 2022. The coverage included the derby semi-final and final races. Virgin televised greyhound racing after RTE dropped it from their schedules, following horrific revelations of animal cruelty in its award-winning Greyhounds Running for Their Lives documentary.
The financial details of the Greyhound Racing Ireland / Virgin Media deal came to light following a 18 January 2023 Dail Question from Neasa Hourigan TD to Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue.
The Green Party TD asked the Minister to provide details about “the cost to Greyhound Racing Ireland of sponsoring a competition (details supplied) and a final on a television station on 17 and 24 September 2022”.
In a response, Deputy Hourigan was told that “€40,000.00 was what was paid to Virgin Media (exclusive of VAT)”. With VAT, the cost to GRI was over €49,000.
In an appeal to Virgin last year to reject greyhound racing, the Irish Council Against Blood Sport stated: “Virgin Media should NOT be promoting this cruel, dog-killing activity - the public wants to see greyhound racing ended and not given a platform on national television.”
We pointed to the “Greyhounds Running for Their Lives” documentary which exposed the horrors of greyhound racing, including the behind-the-scenes killing every year of around 6,000 greyhounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
We highlighted that there is growing public opposition to greyhound racing, plummeting attendance at races and ongoing protests outside tracks, including at Shelbourne Park stadium.
“Greyhounds suffer and die at tracks and Shelbourne Park is one of the worst,” we stated. “At least 238 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 62 died or were killed by a track vet over the past seven years alone, sickening Greyhound Racing Ireland statistics show. Among the victims are a greyhound who died at the track in September 2021 (on the evening of the BoyleSports Irish Derby) after suffering a ‘severe fracture of the neck’, another who collapsed and died in December 2020 with a 'haemorrhage into the abdomen from a rupture of the aorta', a greyhound who died of a heart attack after a race and another who was carried away bleeding with a leg bone popped out.”
At the time, Virgin Media TV Managing Director Paul Farrell responded to say: “I note your concerns and objections to greyhound racing as outlined in your recent email. I also note many of the concerns have been taken on board by the industry and incorporated into the recent code of practice under their General Welfare Principles. Greyhound racing is a publicly funded activity that is funded via the public purse on an annual basis and therefore I would respectfully suggest your concerns would be best directed to the relevant public representatives and bodies.“
“Virgin Media Television is a commercial broadcaster, and we rely totally on commercial revenues to support our business and our employees, as such we do not see it as our role to pre-judge or limit the range and choice of content we provide across our channels,” he added.
At races around Ireland last year, 287 greyhounds were injured and 122 killed. Since 2014, at least 3,050 greyhounds sustained injuries and 1,060 died or were killed at races. The Irish Greyhound Board figures do not include the greyhounds injured at tracks and later killed elsewhere, or the thousands of greyhounds who are killed every year because they are not fast enough to win races.
The track death figures represent only the tip of the iceberg. A damning report which Greyhound Racing Ireland attempted to hide, revealed that around 6,000 greyhounds are killed every year because they don’t make the grade. The report estimated that, for example, a total of 17,962 greyhounds were culled 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”.
The public funding of greyhound racing, to which Virgin Media TV's Managing Director referred, has now exceeded €328 million. A RED C opinion poll commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports confirms that a two-thirds majority of people want the government to stop this funding (with just 16% in favour of it continuing). Petitions urging the government to end the funding have more than 400,000 signatures.
ACTION ALERT
Join us in urging Virgin Media to stop televising greyhound racing.
Paul Farrell
Managing Director, Virgin Media Television
Tony Hanway
CEO, Virgin Media Ireland
Email: paul.farrell@virginmedia.ie; Tony.Hanway@virginmedia.ie; vmtvinfo@virginmedia.ie; vmtvcomplaints@virginmedia.ie
Telephone Virgin Media: +353 (0)1 245 8000
Tweet to: @VirginMediaIE @VMSportIE
Find out more about greyhound injuries and deaths at races
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2019/03/27/greyhound-injuries-and-deaths-at-irish-greyhound-tracks/