Greyhound body denies sport is more focused on breeding than racing

GRI’s head of regulation Patrick Herbert,  acknowledged that between 82% and 85% of all greyhounds racing in the UK are exports from Ireland. File picture: Howard Crowdy

The head of greyhound racing in Ireland has denied that the sport here is more focused on breeding than racing and said he does not agree with the suggestion that Irish animals are consistently sold at below-value-costs to Britain.

John Tuohey, the interim CEO of Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI), told the Public Accounts Committee that he could not agree with the assertion of consultants Preferred Results who in a report from July 2022 had stated, based on publicly available information, that sales of greyhounds to the UK are being subsidised by the Irish taxpayer via the Horse and Greyhound Fund.

“I don’t agree with that,” Mr Tuohey said. “Why would someone sell a greyhound at a loss? I don’t see the logic in it at all.”

That report was commissioned by anti-greyhound racing advocates Greyhound Action Ireland and suggested that the export of 6,300 Irish animals to Britain each year is happening at a loss of almost €5,000 per dog, or €31.5m.

That figure is far in excess of the €18.2m the sport will receive from the Exchequer in 2023.

The Preferred Results report was compiled by Raymond O’Hanlon, who is currently involved in a defamation action against GRI regarding another report from the same company commissioned by the authority in 2017 which suggested that as many as 6,000 greyhounds are culled in Ireland on an annual basis.

At the PAC hearing, chair of GRI, Frank Nyhan, said the traceability system introduced by the body in reaction to a 2019 RTÉ documentary which highlighted the initial Preferred Results report’s findings has now shown “beyond doubt” that the figure of 6,000 culled dogs per annum is “incorrect”.

Mr Nyhan said:

There is no mass culling of greyhounds nor is there any evidence of mass culling of greyhounds in this country. We can account for all greyhounds.

Asked by Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan as to how many animals from each average greyhound litter of six pups make it to a racing trial, GRI’s head of regulation Patrick Herbert said it is important to note that in raising an animal “there would be some level of accidental damage due to rearing accidents, such as accidents where dogs gallop”.

When Ms Hourigan countered that, in her opinion, that would be “rare”, Mr Herbert said “it happens, and we need to recognise that it happens”. Mr Herbert acknowledged, however, that between 82% and 85% of all greyhounds racing in the UK are exports from Ireland.

Separately, Mr Nyhan admitted that no exit interview had been conducted with Mr Tuohey’s predecessor, Dearbhla O’Brien, who had left her role after just eight months in September.

He said he didn’t know why Ms O’Brien had left so abruptly, other than she had been offered another opportunity which she wanted to take. “I was disappointed when she left. There was no issue between us,” he said.