Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI) has announced plans for the introduction of at least four new regional facilities for preparing and rehoming retired racing greyhounds.
The greyhound care centres are expected to be operational by March 2022 and represent a significant expansion of the care centre programme, which promotes greyhounds as pets.
A tender process has begun for the delivery of at least one care centre in Connacht, Munster, south Leinster and Midlands or Ulster.
Philip Peake, Interim CEO of Greyhound Racing Ireland, said the purpose of the new care centres will be to prepare retired greyhounds for rehoming, as well as enabling members of the public to view dogs before adopting them.
He said: "The welfare of greyhounds is at the core of everything these care centres will provide.
"Each of the proposed care centres will feature a visitor room to facilitate engagement with potential adopters, to show DVDs of greyhounds which have been rehomed, to complete paperwork and to allow potential adopters sit with greyhounds for a period of time.
"Operators will also be obliged to use social media to promote retired greyhounds for rehoming and provide regular updates and promote successful adoptions."
Mr Peake added all centres will abide by strict security, hygiene and welfare standards consistent with the recently launched Code of Practice on the Care & Welfare of the Greyhound.
The expansion of the care centre programme comes on foot of a record year for the Irish Retired Greyhound Trust (IRGT) which assisted in the rehoming of more than 2,000 greyhounds so far this year.
This comes after RTÉ Investigates revealed a trend in 2019 which saw thousands of greyhounds being killed once they had completed their time as racing animals.
