A row has broken out between Greyhound Racing Ireland and RTÉ over the station’s decision to cease broadcasting and coverage of the sport.
Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI) have also hit out at national tourism agencies Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland for halting promotional activity around the sport.
The outgoing GRI chief executive Ger Dollard said the greyhound industry was being held to a different standard than other sports, including horse racing.
He said it was “unacceptable” that coverage and engagement with greyhound racing had ended and that they had taken it up “at the highest levels of government”.
Internal records from GRI detail how the industry has battled with significant reputational issues ever since an RTÉ Investigates programme in 2019 about greyhound welfare.
A briefing document was prepared for an economic analysis that Greyhound Racing Ireland had commissioned from economist Jim Power.
It said: “The change in public perception has also been reflected in the refusal of a number of media outlets to cover greyhound racing, most notably RTÉ and the withdrawal by Fáilte Ireland/Tourism Ireland from including [it] it its promotional activity or permitting [us] to participate in promotional activities relating to the greyhound industry.”
- Full statement on these records from outgoing GRI CEO Ger Dollard.
