Greyhound Racing Ireland chair Frank Nyhan hails €17.6m Budget allocation

Frank Nyhan, chairman of Greyhound Racing Ireland.

Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI) has welcomed the budget allocation of €17.6m for greyhound racing from the Horse & Greyhound Fund.

GRI says the allocation will assist with the continued significant expansion of a range of care and welfare initiatives during 2022 and assist with the commercial challenges as the industry recovers from the impact of restrictions experienced during the pandemic.

Frank Nyhan, chairman of the Board of GRI said: “Income generated from gate admissions, tote operations, restaurant facilities and other areas has been severely impacted by Covid-19 and like other sporting organisations across the country, GRI has greatly benefited from government support in recent budgets.

“While last year’s budget allocation and additional government employee support schemes assisted the organisation in countering some of this lost income, it also enabled GRI to continue expanding on the range of care and welfare initiatives that it operates.”

Nyhan said GRI has invested significantly on its care and welfare programme during 2021.

He confirmed that the funding allocated to greyhound racing under the Horse & Greyhound Fund will assist the organisation in its care and welfare programme expansion plans for the remainder of the year and throughout 2022.

The plans include a further expansion of the Care Centre/Foster Centre programme and continuing to financially incentivise the rehoming of greyhounds in Ireland through additional supports though the Irish Retired Greyhound Trust (IRGT).

From January to September 2021, the rehoming of 1,610 greyhounds has been achieved compared to 1,775 for the full year of 2020.

Additionally, further investment will be required for the next phase of the roll out of the Rásaíocht Con Éireann Traceability System (RCÉTS), which was launched in January 2021.