Opinion: Will Ireland follow New Zealand’s lead and ban greyhound racing?

Greyhounds make great family pets, gentle and docile they are super low maintenance loving to lounge and just chill out at home.

Many of these great dogs come from rescues, where they have been dumped after their ‘racing career’ has ended, these dogs are the fortunate ones with many others euthanised following horrific injuries caused by racing or they are simply put down as they are no longer wanted or needed by their owners.

The reason all this happens is because of the ‘greyhound industry’ which is mainly funded by the taxpayer through the government. It is shocking and shameful that we as a country are one of the few remaining in the world that continue to allow and encourage this barbaric behaviour.

Greyhounds are beautiful creatures, elegant and poised and both languid and energetic at times in their movements. They are very friendly and affectionate in nature making them a wonderful addition to any family.

In recent years their popularity as pets has fortunately grown but rescues are still full of these beautiful creatures as a result of the greyhound racing industry.

In Ireland, young people are finding it almost impossible to own their own homes, people are unable to access basic medical services and the ill and injured are forced to spend hours and sometimes days on trolleys in our hospitals and yet the government hands out millions to fund the greyhound industry.

Greyhound racing is cruel, with dogs are often left injured and maimed with many more euthanised when their racing days are over.

Hundreds of greyhounds end up in rescues each year, they are either brought there by their owners as they no longer have a use for them or they have been found by a passerby after been literally dumped and left to die.

GREY2K USA Worldwide, the world’s largest greyhound protection organisation points out that throughout the racing industry, greyhounds are subject to standard practices that are cruel and inhumane.

These shortcuts are primarily used to reduce costs and increase the profit margin for each dog. Dogs suffer as a result of this reckless approach of placing profits before animal welfare.

According to a recent survey carried out by the organisation, the majority of people in Ireland want greyhound racing to end.

The non-profit organisation works to pass stronger greyhound protection laws and end the cruelty of dog racing on both national and international levels. They also promote the rescue and adoption of greyhounds across the globe.

There are only five countries remaining in the world where greyhound racing is legal and shamefully Ireland is one of them.
New Zealand is the latest country to announce that greyhound racing is to be phased out ahead of a ban in 2026.

Announcing the widely welcomed move, a government minister pointed to an ‘unacceptably high’ number of injuries at tracks and declared that ‘the time has come to make a call in the best interest of the animals’.
Ireland must not hesitate to follow suit.

According to Philip Kiernan of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, Greyhound Racing Ireland statistics show that at races here since 2014, more than 3,480 greyhounds were injured and 1,290 killed. This includes 178 injuries and 96 deaths in the first six months of 2024.

Among the injuries suffered were broken necks and leg bones, fractured skulls, severed spine/spinal paralysis, dislocated toes and ruptured ligaments and tendons. Some greyhounds have collapsed dead with heart failure as they run towards the finish line. And this is all in the name of so-called sport and fun.

Additional horrors are hidden behind the scenes. As revealed by RTE in its award-winning “Greyhounds Running for their Lives” documentary, thousands of greyhounds are killed every year because they are not fast enough.

Mr Kiernan points out that Micheál Martin has said he is “not a big greyhound racing fan,” while Simon Harris recently stated: “I take animal welfare extraordinarily seriously.”

Sports clubs, workplaces and schools also need to stop using greyhound racing as a means of fundraising - it is terrible and many people still don’t seem to understand that supporting these events is indirectly supporting animal cruelty.

Ireland should take inspiration from New Zealand and become the next country to stop greyhound racing in its tracks.