Greyhound Racing Ireland’s new traceability system ‘not fit for purpose’, says Greyhound Action Ireland

Following the revelation by the RTE Investigates documentary Running For Their Lives in 2019 that 6,000 healthy racing greyhounds were going missing every year in this country, the greyhound industry introduced a traceability system for all racing greyhounds.

The system, called RCETS, promised to track the fate of every non-coursing greyhound from the microchipping stage at 12 weeks old, until death.

Now, just two and a half years into its operation, figures obtained via Dail Questions by Greyhound Action Ireland reveal that this system is not functioning as promised.

Under the existing regulations, all non-coursing greyhounds have to be microchipped with the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) at 12 weeks old.

This information is supposed to be immediately entered on the new traceability system.

The Director of Regulation with Greyhound Racing Ireland  (GRI) Mr. Pat Herbert told a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Nov 10^th, 2022 that “the information on greyhounds microchipped with the ICC is immediately entered on the traceability system.”

The Chairman of GRI Mr. Frank Nyhan told the same meeting that “…. from the time when they’re microchipped, we can account for all greyhounds.

That is the point of the whole system.”

All non-coursing greyhounds born in 2022 should have been microchipped by the end of April this year.

The figures obtained by Greyhound Action Ireland show that 1,579 or 14% of the 11,047 non-coursing greyhounds born in 2022, who were subsequently microchipped with the ICC have not been entered onto the RCETS.

See visual below.

Which begs the question – how does the greyhound board propose to track the fate of dogs whose existence they are unaware of?

“The discrepancy between the ICC figures and those contained on the RCETS clearly show that the greyhound board’s much-heralded traceability system is not fit for purpose,” said Nuala Donlon, spokesperson for Greyhound Action Ireland.

“The absence of nearly 1,579  dogs from the traceability system is either the result of incompetence, or something more sinister is going on.

“Either way, how can we have confidence in the figures going forward, if the system has failed so miserably at the very first stage in the tracking process?” Ms. Donlon continued.

“The traceability system cost €245,000 to put in place, and costs a further €92,000 per year to maintain.

“It is completely lacking in transparency.

“Only registered owners can access the system, and then they can only track their own dog(s).

“Members of the public who want information on what’s going on in the industry have to resort to Dáil Questions.

“The answers to these questions are not entered into the Record of the Dáil, as the questions are invariably referred to the greyhound board by the Minister.

“When the figures are released, there is no way of independently verifying them.

“Dogs are not tracked from birth, but from the age of 12 weeks.

“While the greyhound board’s traceability system records the number of dogs exported, it does not give country of destination for dogs exported to anywhere except the UK.

“All dogs exported to countries other than the UK are recorded as Export International, and no further information on their destination is available.

“Irish dogs are still being exported directly to countries like Spain, China and Pakistan, where few or no laws exist to protect animals from the most brutal treatment.

“This, despite Rasaiocht Con Eireann’s claim that they are opposed to exports to countries that do not meet Ireland’s welfare standards.

“In a desperate attempt at damage limitation following the RTE programme, Greyhound Racing Ireland made their new traceability system the centrepiece of their proposed animal welfare reforms.

“The Programme for Government negotiated by the coalition parties in 2020 made the following commitments in relation to the greyhound industry:

“Future funding of the greyhound sector from the Horse and Greyhound Fund is contingent on a guarantee of welfare standards being upheld on an annual basis.

“We will ensure that strict monitoring takes place of this sector to guarantee that the animal welfare commitments made to date are fully implemented.

“Greyhound Racing Ireland’s commitment to put in place a traceability that would allay concerns over the fate of thousands of dogs every year has clearly not been upheld.

“Greyhound Racing Ireland cannot be trusted to provide a comprehensive and transparent system of traceability.

“An independent body needs to be appointed to oversee this system, so that the fate of every single racing greyhound from birth till death is accounted for

“Greyhound Action Ireland is calling on the Green Party to insist that no further public funding is handed over to Rasaiocht Con Eireann until this independent monitoring system is put in place.

“The Irish greyhound board needs to be made answerable, finally, for the whereabouts of every single non-coursing greyhound born into this abusive industry.

“Nothing less is acceptable.”