Barry’s Tea withdraw sponsorship from Irish greyhound racing event

"We were saddened and horrified."

Barry's Tea has announced that it has officially withdrawn sponsorship from the greyhound racing industry. The Irish company made the decision after RTÉ Investigates aired a programme which revealed that up to 6,000 greyhounds are killed in the country every year because they fail to make qualification times. In a statement, Barry's Tea said: "We were saddened and horrified by the recent revelations of the RTÉ Investigates programme, which raised concerns over the treatment of dogs within the greyhound industry in Ireland. "On reflection, we have decided to withdraw our local sponsorship of the annual race in Curraheen Park, Cork."

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— Barry's Tea (@BarrysTeaTweets) July 2, 2019

The documentary, RTÉ Investigates : Greyhounds, Running for Their Lives, claimed that out of the 16,000 greyhounds that are born each year, 5,987 on average are killed for not being fast enough. According to the film, in 2017 a consultancy firm was paid €115,000 to carry out a review of the greyhound industry on behalf of the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB). The report, which proposes reforms within the industry, was supplied to the Minister for Agriculture last month. The documentary says that these reforms have not been carried out. Chief executive of the IGB Gerard Dollard told RTÉ that there is a problem with greyhounds that are unaccounted for, but that he does not believe the above figures are accurate. "I accept there is an issue in relation to unaccounted-for dogs," he said. "I think the figures that are being thrown out are, in fact, well in excess of what the actual figure is because of a number of exports to the UK and elsewhere." After the documentary aired, IGB said: "Any person who knowingly harms a greyhound brings shame upon our industry. The IGB will continue to investigate any matters brought to its attention."