The Scottish government has supported a new bill looking to ban greyhound racing.

Scotland are following the lead from Wales, New Zealand and Tasmania, who have all made moves towards banning the sport.

Does Ireland need to look at a similar ban?

Co-founder of Greyhound Awareness Cork Katie Corcoran said it’s “inevitable” that greyhound racing is wiped out in Ireland.

“Bans are coming in all over the world because of death and injury on the greyhound track,” she told The Hard Shoulder.

“But in Ireland it’s even more vulnerable because it depends very, very much on taxpayer funding.

“Last year there was €19.8 million given to the greyhound racing industry, which has happened since 2001.

“So, a total of €366 million has been given to greyhound racing.”

Ms Corcoran said “there’s so many better causes” that this money could be used towards instead.

Greyhounds compete during the training dog races at the track in Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic. (Credit Image: © Slavek Ruta/ZUMA Wire)

However, Independent TD for Limerick Richard O’Donoghue disagreed both that racing dogs should be outlawed, and that it facilitates abuse towards animals.

“My father used to have greyhounds, and we had up to 30 greyhounds at one stage,” he said.

“I was one of the people that had to walk and feed the greyhounds, before I actually got fed myself, because that’s what the dogs meant to our family.

“There’s a lot of people in County Limerick that still have greyhounds – and there’s new generations of people that have greyhounds and they’re racing the greyhounds.

“Greyhounds are made to run, the famous horses are made to run.”

Animal welfare

Deputy O’Donoghue said that “the hardest rigours of the law” need to be applied to anyone that mistreats or abuses animals.

“To me, it goes back to animal welfare, where people, if they’re ill-treating dogs, they need to be dealt with,” he said.

According to Deputy O’Donoghue, racing events are also often used as fund-raising opportunities for various local community groups and charities.

Main image: Dogs take off from the starting box during the final program of greyhound races at Derby Lane. December 31, 2020. (Photo by Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)