Paul Murphy condemns public funding for horse and greyhound racing
Deputy Paul Murphy criticised public funding for horse and greyhound racing, arguing it sustains widespread animal cruelty and is out of touch with public opinion. He cited specific incidents, media investigations and the suspension of a coursing club licence to press for greater clarity and a reallocation of funds.
Main criticisms
Murphy said the majority of politicians in the House support handing significant public money to the horse and greyhound racing industry - naming the government, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Greens, Sinn Féin and the Labour Party. He described the industry as unsustainable and based on widespread cruelty and argued this stance is out of step with public opinion.
Documented incidents cited
He pointed to the recent spectacle of prominent racehorse trainer Gordon Elliott photographed sitting on the dead body of a horse and referenced RTE Investigates, which exposed that the industry was breeding ten times as many puppies as it needs and that up to 6,000 dogs a year were being killed. Murphy also noted greyhounds being exported to jurisdictions with few welfare standards and reports of dogs being mistreated, including instances of animals boiled alive.
Funding concerns
Murphy highlighted a planned payment of £17.6 million for 2022 to the greyhound industry and questioned the choice to invest public money in the sector instead of other services. He said funds could be better spent elsewhere and gave the example of doubling funding to the Health and Safety Authority by redirecting money away from greyhound racing.
Call for clarity on coursing
He called for full clarity on hare coursing, specifically asking for information about the Loch Ray Coursing Club, which had its licence suspended indefinitely. Murphy said he had not received answers to a parliamentary question about post-mortems on the deaths of hares and urged that the matter be fully investigated.
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I have to say it is striking how out of touch the majority of politicians in this House are with public opinion. On the central issue of animal cruelty, it is clear that the point has just been made by Deputy Whitmore, it is not just the government, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and shamefully the Greens, but also Sinn Fein and the Labour Party which support giving handing over significant public money to the horse and greyhound racing industry. Since we dealt with this last year, and this is obviously an annual event, we have seen the appalling spectacle of prominent racehorse trainer Gordon Elliott posing for our photo, sitting on top of the dead body of a horse. Another glimpse of the casual cruelty behind the airbrushed image of the horse racing industry. Once again, we are going to see huge money, £17.6 million for 2022, being given to the greyhound industry. And nobody can pretend not to see and not to be aware of the widespread cruelty which is well documented within greyhound racing. It is an unavoidable point behind the industry which Deputy Carthy described as a success story that should be celebrated. It is two years since RTE Investigates exposed that the industry was breeding ten times as many puppies as it needs, and up to 6,000 dogs a year were being killed because they are not fast enough. We know that greyhounds are exported to places with few, if any, animal welfare standards, and there are horrific stories of dogs being mistreated, boiled alive in many cases. There is a very deep cruelty involved in all of this. I want to make a brief point and make a call in relation to hair coursing that we need to have full clarity in terms of what happened in relation to the Loch Ray Coursing Club, which had its licence suspended indefinitely. When I asked for the post-mortem on the deaths of the heirs in a parliamentary question, I didn't get an answer to that. We need full clarity on all of that. The basic point, which I think the vast majority of the public would agree on, is that we would be far better off, for example, doubling the funding to the Health and Safety Authority by taking the funding away from the greyhound racing industry. That is the choice that the government makes, not to fund many very worthwhile things, and instead invest in an industry which is unsustainable and which is based on animal cruelty. Deputy McVarry. Deputy McVarry.
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