I am pleased to see this petition is being debated in the Senedd today, and I also just want to say thank you to all of you that are in the gallery who have done so much work on this; tremendous work.

Since its inception earlier last year, I've supported this petition and the work of Blue Cross, Dogs Trust—which I've visited in my constituency of Bridgend—Greyhound Rescue Wales, Hope Rescue in Ogmore and the RSPCA in raising awareness of the current conditions many greyhounds currently endure. I also just really want to thank, as well, Jane and Luke; you've been tremendous in keeping us on track with this, and pushing this forward. I also want to thank the 44 constituents of mine who wrote to me to raise awareness of this campaign and those who have also signed this petition. So, that's really what I wanted to say today, keeping it short and sweet: I have been overwhelmed by the amount of constituents who have got in touch with me who are really, really backing this, and I think that's really important to note.

I was shocked to be informed by my constituents that as many as 6,000 greyhounds are abandoned by the industry every year and are forced to find new homes, and whilst Hope Rescue's Amazing Greys project helped over 200 racing greyhounds over the UK, heartbreakingly, 40 of these dogs endured serious career-ending injuries.

And finally, I just want to touch on how much of a unique opportunity that Wales has actually to end this practice, because in Wales, we do just have the one greyhound racetrack, the Valley Greyhound Stadium. Nowhere else in Wales is this practice taking place, unlike the rest of the UK, who have got 29 stadiums. So, today is actually our chance to take a step forward and lead the way for the rest of the UK. I support the report today, I support the petition. If there needs to be a consultation to take into consideration other things, then fine, but I really hope that we are finally, and we will soon be there, on the journey towards a full ban of greyhound racing in Wales. Diolch.