The “death knell” of greyhound racing is “being rung as we speak” – and the government must immediately end all funding to the sport, an animal rights campaigner has claimed.
The Youghal Greyhound Track has received €763,000 in public funding since 2020 but attracted only 92 attendees over 31 meets in a four-month period.
On average, only three people attend each event.
Animal rights campaigners have long argued greyhound racing is cruel and dangerous for the dogs that take part in it.
Mr Carmody has been campaigning on the issue for years and feels the public are finally coming around to his way of thinking.
“I think it all came to a head when the RTÉ Prime Time Investigates documentary came out a couple of years ago and it stopped everyone in their tracks,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.
In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the stadium said events in the early evening were “not conducive to attracting public attendance” but Mr Carmody feels that is not much of an excuse.
“They’d have some sort of leeway with that argument if it were in the mornings but in the evening times, there are more people free to do things,” he said.
“And there would have been more attendance in the past as well.
“We would have seen for a good long time… people coming in after work and they couldn’t wait to get in… but that has all changed.”
Mr Carmody described attendance as “dropping all over the country” and urged the Government to end public subsidy of the industry once and for all in this year’s budget.
Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath. Picture by: Julien Behal Photography“Any politician in their right mind who wants to be seen on the right side of history, they need to get themselves together and to drop any more funding that is being pummelled into this industry to keep it up,” he said.
“I really do believe that the death knell of this industry is being rung as we speak.
“I think we should be bringing in the bulldozers, knocking this place down and building hospitals and houses because there’s no future for sure in any of this.”
In April, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns called for an end to all State funding for the greyhound racing industry.
Main image: Greyhound racing. Picture by: Alamy.com
