The greyhound racing industry has been accused of insulting vulnerable people on health service waiting lists by taking more than €16m a year in State funding - the equivalent of €46,000 every day.

This is the story of a little Irish company. We, the people of Ireland, own it. It’s a commercial, semi-State company. But it defies the definition of commercial, and it is 100% dependent on the State.

Marketer and advertiser Gary Brown and financial advisor Wayne McCarthy have been appointed as non-executive directors of Bord na gCon, the state-run greyhound industry authority.

The Department of Education’s €23m purchase of a former greyhound track depends on the site’s planning status being changed by the local council to allow the construction of schools.

Bord na gCon has reported a large increase in its operating surplus for 2015, although numbers attending greyhound meetings continued to fall.

We are writing as a concerned group of leading animal welfare organisations including Dogs Trust, Europe’s largest dog welfare charity, and two of Ireland’s oldest and largest animal welfare charities, the Irish SPCA and the Irish Blue Cross.

A total of 58 samples taken from greyhounds in competition around the country last year were positive for doping, although that number represents just over 1% of all samples taken in 2015.

An Oireachtas committee has made a string of recommendations over the future of the multimillion-euro Irish greyhound industry, including a zero tolerance approach to dog doping and increased transparency and traceability.

An estimated €100,000 spent by the Irish Greyhound Board on a bad bend on a greyhound race-track has significantly reduced race collisions at the location.

Pre-tax losses continued to mount at the firm that operates Bord na gCon’s controversial Limerick Greyhound stadium in 2013, figures show.

Bord na gCon has said it will work with all relevant authorities to ensure those responsible for the deaths of 11 greyhounds, on The Oscar Wilde Irish Ferries vessel to France, are successfully prosecuted.

It has been revealed in the Irish Examiner (October 24) that the Irish Greyhound Board’s debt has increased significantly, with €21 million spent on a racing stadium in Limerick which has been criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The public spending watchdog has criticised the outlay on a €21m greyhound stadium in Limerick, which has significantly increased the debt owed by the state body that oversees greyhound racing.

The State body responsible for the greyhound industry doubled its debt while developing a €21m stadium in Limerick, a project described by the public spending watchdog as, "at best, a marginal commercial proposition".

Harold's Cross Greyhound Stadium in Dublin may have to be sold in a bid to save Bord na gCon, the body that runs the greyhound racing industry.

IN May 2012, it emerged that the Irish Greyhound Board was facing a serious debt crisis following the botched construction of its new flagship stadium on the outskirts of Limerick.

Consultants brought in to assess the future of the Irish Greyhound Board have extended their work to conduct more detailed investigations into the troubled semi-state company.

The strategic plan envisaged by the troika of Horse Sport Ireland, Teagasc and the RDS is fundamentally all about ensuring the horse sector can deliver on its potential.

The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said it will not let the departure of the Irish Greyhound Board chief executive delay its inquiries into the company.

Pressure on staff after their colleagues were made redundant compromised security procedures ahead of three robberies at the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) headquarters in Limerick.

A dog doping case exposed a range of irregularities in the system before the investigator said case closed, writes investigative correspondent Conor Ryan

Doubt has been cast on the status of hundreds of racing and coursing greyhounds bred using frozen semen taken from long-dead sires.

The loss of almost €1m by a Bord na gCon-owned Limerick greyhound racing company on the sale of its former stadium last year resulted in losses more than doubling at the firm.

The Irish Greyhound Board has been warned that its growing debt levels are not guaranteed by taxpayers and it would have to sell tracks if it cannot meet repayments.

The full extent of Bord na gCon’s mounting debt and the exact source of it will not be known until its accounts are published, writes Investigative Correspondent Conor Ryan

Horse Racing Ireland has announced a significant restructuring of its marketing subsidiary in the wake of the resignation of a senior director over breach of ethics concerns.

The Dáil’s spending watchdog has initiated inquiries into a €5m overspend by the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) on its new flagship stadium in Limerick.

At moments of frightening flux, certainty is the most precious gold.

Bord na gCon would like to comment on and totally refute key misinformed points as presented by the Irish Examiner edition on Tuesday, May 8.

An Irish Examiner investigation today reveals that the Irish Greyhound Board, a commercial semi-state body, ratcheted up an over-spend of €5m on the construction of a new racecourse in Limerick.

The IGB yesterday released a statement in relation to the recent find of greyhound bodies in a Co Limerick quarry and revealed that they know the identity of the owners of some of the greyhounds.

WHEN will the jobs be created?

MINISTER of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Shane McEntee, marked the passage into law of the Welfare of Greyhounds Act 2011 by visiting the greyhound premises of leading breeder and trainer Mr Pat Savage, near Slane, Co Meath.

FIVE-FIGURE bonuses awarded by Horse Racing Ireland to its chief executive, Brian Kavanagh, are to be repaid in full to the State.

THE boards of two semi-state companies have been warned to sack their chief executives if they refuse to sign revised contracts.

A Government Minister said today that it would be unwise to impose a single salary ceiling on the directors of semi-state companies.

THE full extent of doubling up across hundreds of publicly-funded quangos has been revealed for the first time, with more than 300 people sitting on at least two state bodies.

There will be no exporting of greyhounds from Ireland to China, in the near future at least.

Policy context of asset sales

The appointment of Phil Meaney as Chairman of Bord na gCon, as exclusively reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, was confirmed yesterday morning by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney.

AGRICULTURE Minister Simon Coveney has defended the appointment of a Fine Gael strategist as the chair of the country’s greyhound racing body, Bord na gCon.

MAJOR players in the horseracing and leisure fields are expected today to publicly back a proposed €460 million hotel, casino and entertainment venue on an 800-acre rural site.

FOOTBALL’S coming home for Limerick FC who are set to return to the Markets Field after an absence of some 30 years.