Greyhound numbers falling for five years

ON behalf of the Irish Greyhound Owners & Breeders Federation (IGOBF), I wish to take issue with a number of points raised in the letter from Des Groome (‘Greyhound industry best able to pay and most in need of regulation’, July 6).

Mr Groome refers to “a significant over-production problem” in the greyhound sector before going on to state that the breeding and sale of greyhounds is “thriving”. Anybody with even a basic understanding of economics would acknowledge that these two statements cannot possibly be reconciled, given the relationship between supply and demand.

Mr Groome rightly points out that “the best remedy for oversupply is to discourage breeding”. Greyhound breeders would appear to be one step ahead of him in this regard, however, given that we have seen litter numbers fall year-on-year for the past five years.