Bans on greyhound racing in Scotland and Wales welcomed by Irish greyhound advocacy group

Greyhound advocacy group Greyhound Action Ireland has welcomed the bans on greyhound racing introduced in both Wales and Scotland in the past two days, describing them as another nail in the coffin of a cruel and dying ‘industry’.

These latest bans come less than a year after similar bans were announced in New Zealand and Tasmania.

Commercial greyhound racing will soon remain legal in just a handful of countries – Ireland, England, mainland Australia and the state of West Virginia in the USA.

“All the welfare concerns that have prompted the bans in Scotland, Wales, New Zealand and Tasmania – the track deaths, the injuries, the doping – exist in this country,” said Nuala Donlon, spokesperson for Greyhound Action Ireland.

“In fact, the welfare abuses here are even worse since the Irish greyhound industry breeds far more greyhounds than it needs, or can export to the UK.

“As a result, thousands of healthy young dogs who are surplus to requirement are killed or disappear each year”

Data collected from Greyhound Racing Ireland’s Traceability system by Greyhound Action Ireland via Parliamentary Questions shows that the mass killing of unwanted greyhounds is continuing at a rate similar to that exposed in the 2019 Prime Time Investigates documentary which shocked the Irish public.

The shocking statistics reveal that of the 7,449 racing greyhounds born in 2021 who remain on the island of Ireland, 5,203 – 70% are already dead or unaccounted for.

The oldest of these dogs would have just turned five – the youngest four.

“The Irish Greyhound Board’s much-vaunted traceability system was put in place in order to disprove claims that thousands of healthy dogs are being killed each year, but it has done no such thing, It has, instead, confirmed our worst fears,” said Ms. Donlon.

“Indeed, the kill rate here is likely to increase with the closure of tracks in the UK, since 85% of greyhounds raced in the UK are imported from Ireland,” Ms. Donlon continued.

The situation in relation to track deaths and injuries is equally shocking.

In the past two years alone -2024/25 – 399 greyhounds were killed on the track as a result of injuries sustained while racing.  To put that in perspective, 7% of all the dogs put out to race on racetracks in the past two years were dead before the end of the race. A further 17 dogs died at official and unofficial trials in 2024/25. There is no requirement for a vet to be present at such trials.

Since 2014, 4,040 greyhounds have been injured while racing. 1,593 have been killed.

From an economic perspective, the Irish greyhound racing industry is totally unviable, and couldn’t survive without the annual handout from the state. Last year it received €19.8 million euros from the government, bringing to €387 million the amount of state funding this moribund industry has received since 2001.

This, despite the fact that it hasn’t delivered a dividend to the Irish state in nearly 30 years, nor is it expected to, going forward.

In 2023, greyhound stadia around this country were 70-93% empty. Attendance was down a further 25,000 in 2024, and data recently received via Parliamentary Questions show that attendance fell further in all stadia in 2025 with the exception of Shelbourne Park.

“State-funding of greyhound racing is, effectively, state-sponsored cruelty to animals,” Nuala Donlon said.

“Greyhound Action Ireland is renewing its appeal to this government to do the right and decent thing, and commit to phasing out the public funding of greyhound racing over the next 3-5 years.”