Successful entrepreneur Taggart enjoys cross-party appeal

ENTREPRENEUR Paschal Taggart has been highly successful at establishing warm political relationships stretching across the party boundaries.

First appointed to The Irish Greyhound Board 10 years ago by the Rainbow Coalition, the businessman has been on good terms with Fianna Fáil for the bulk of his tenure overseeing a resurgence of the greyhound racing industry in recent years.

When the arch deal-maker walked off the board in 2004, Fine Gael TD Jimmy Deenihan rallied to his defence in the Dáil; Fianna Fáil Sports Minister John O’Donoghue was suitably impressed by Mr Taggart’s skills to help smooth over the row and the multi-millionaire was soon back at the helm. Like many of the nation’s most successful business figures, Mr Taggart has sampled the hospitality at Fianna Fáil’s legendary tent at the Galway races, where the great and good of commerce can rub shoulders and clink glasses with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his senior ministers.