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FINE GAEL, FIANNA Fáil and Sinn Féin voted in favour of a €4.1 million increase in funding for horse and greyhound racing last night, bringing the total funding for both industries close to €100 million.
The Labour Party had a free vote on the matter, with TDs Alan Kelly and Sean Sherlock voting in favour of the funding, while Labour leader Ivana Bacik, TD Brendan Howlin and TD Duncan Smith voting against the motion.
All Green Party TDs voted in favour of granting the funding, while the Social Democrats and People Before Profit TDs all voted down the motion.
In terms of the Independent TDs, TD Michael Fitzmaurice voted in favour of the motion to approve funding for the industries, while TDs Joan Collins, Catherine Connolly and Thomas Pringle voted against it.
The Regional Independent grouping and the Rural Independent TDs all voted in favour of the funding. Independents Marc MacSharry voted for the motion while former Sinn Féin TD, now Independent, Patricia Ryan voted against the motion. Violet-Anne Wynne also voted against the funding.
A number of TDs, including Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin were not present in the chamber for the vote and therefore their vote was not recorded.
The funding was approved by 109 TDs who voted in favour of the bill, while just 19 TDs voted against. No TD abstained.
TDs shared a variety of views during the debate in the Dáil yesterday evening, a topic which has been seen to divide debate, even within political parties, such as the Labour Party. Some expressed anger over the funding boost, arguing not enough was being fairly allocated towards animal welfare, while others argued it was an integral part of Irish culture.
During the debate, government and other opposition TDs, including members of Sinn Féin and Labour’s Alan Kelly, supported the case for additional funding.
Meanwhile, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns and People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy railed against the scale of government funding being provided to the industry.
Junior minister in the Department of Agriculture Martin Heydon said the greyhound racing industry is “an integral part of the social fabric of our country”.
He said the horse and greyhound racing industries indirectly supports up to 30,000 jobs and 4,000 jobs respectively. Heydon argued the funding would assist with that employment as well as add to a well-established tradition.
Heydon’s opinion differed slightly to the views of his cabinet colleague, junior minister in the Department of Sport, Thomas Byrne who last week said greyhound racing is an industry “not a sport”.
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#COYGIG!! Fantastic evening for soccer in Ireland.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Really great win.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: you are right, amazing performance. You kind of wonder why they couldnt pull it out for the other games though. Still it will give them great confidence going to the playoffs.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: its a shame you’re not very consistent AND you think FG have overseen some massive recovery in Ireland that they havent
@S Suilleabhain: What has that got to do with his COYGIG comment and this article? Was a comment of his deleted from this page?
@Setanta O’Toole: For the same reason probably that the Ireland’s men’s team would be lucky to win any match if they were in the same group as the 2nd, 3rd and 6th raned teams in the world i.e. France, Belguim and Portugal.
@Injustice Cop: he was odious to me & nasty and is routinely. I’ll say what I like and dont regard him as anything like a decent Irishman
strange username you have there, ironic.
Well done indeed ladies .
Brilliant result. Really attacked today and that goal v England gave them the emputis to push on in this game. Super venue also.
Brilliant! Well done everyone – delighted for you all
Great result for Mna na hEireann
To be fair. This was a great win against a top women’s team. Maybe now they realise that they are better then they think and give them a boost for the next time. Well done ladies.
Well done, great to see them finally getting a well-deserved win. Hope sign of things to come for them.
@ S Suilleabhain: You are pathetic. On an article concerning a great victory for our Women’s National Team you somehow have to bring completely unrelated politics into. How does it feel to have failed so miserable in life? There ar3 people all around you, from every part of the country have successfully made a decent life for themselves under the same circumstances you had to live under. You are a bitter failure. The soo wrong you take responsibility for your life the sooner things will improve for you. As long as you bitterly whinge and moan you will always be a miserable failure. Wise up.
Coolaboola
Great performance. I’m having a piece of humble pie for lunch!
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