Greyhound racing is not a sport but a “traditional industry” that is currently less popular than it once was, Sports Minister Thomas Byrne has said.
The annual State funding towards greyhound and horse racing has now risen to €99.1m. This is the highest level of funding the industry has received in 23 years.
However, €19.82m of this goes to Greyhound Racing Ireland — the governing body for the industry. The remaining €79.28m goes to Horse Racing Ireland.
Concerns have repeatedly been raised about animal welfare in both sports, with a series of animal cruelty scandals coming to light in recent years.
Mr Byrne said his department does not provide any funding towards greyhound racing. He said the funding itself was not being taken from other sports, citing that the money comes from the Department of Agriculture rather than the Department of Sport.
“I think that if that money was taken from the greyhounds, I assume that the Department of Agriculture would want to keep it,” Mr Byrne said.
“I don’t think it should be assumed that it automatically goes to sport. It’s not a sport, it’s not a sport under Sport Ireland, it’s not in competition with our sports under Sport Ireland.”
The junior minister said the funding for sports across the country has gone to “another level”, highlighting that infrastructure would also be improved.
Following October’s budget, a total of €230.7m has been allocated to sport, an increase of €21.7m on 2023.
Among the priorities set out in early October were providing additional support to Sport Ireland to enhance high-performance sports, alongside bringing more major sporting events to Ireland.
Asked directly if he considered greyhound racing a sport, Mr Byrne said “It’s not a sport. It’s an industry effectively.
“It’s a traditional industry that, quite frankly, isn’t as popular as it once was.”
Mr Byrne said he wanted to prioritise increasing funding to sport, saying the government has done “exceptionally well” on this over recent years.
Put to him if the government should reduce direct funding to the greyhound industry, Mr Byrne said he did not want to “pit one against the other” and that he wanted to see general sports spending rise.
Mr Byrne was speaking as he and Tourism Minister Catherine Martin launched the Government’s new framework on major international sport events.
The plan itself is a framework to increase the number of major sporting events, like Euro 2028, that are hosted in Ireland.