Former greyhound racing board member calls for governance investigation

The former board member has written to the Comptroller and Auditor General, the State’s accountant, and the chair of the Public Accounts Committee calling for an investigation. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

A former board member of the agency with responsibility for greyhound racing in Ireland has called for statutory investigations into alleged issues regarding corporate governance at the body.

Pat Creed, a five-year board member of Greyhound Racing Ireland (also known as Rasaiocht Con Éireann, RCE), has written to both the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), the State’s accountant, and the chair of the Public Accounts Committee calling for an investigation into those issues, one of which relates to a dispute between Clonmel Greyhound Stadium and RCE over a sum of roughly €500,000.

RCE has listed that sum as a debt owed by Davis Road Greyhound Stadium PLC, the company which operates the Clonmel stadium via leasehold. It Is believed the sum accrued as part of the €2m-budgeted overhaul of the greyhound track in 2013.

Davis Road, meanwhile, is expected to list RCE as a debtor for the €500,000 figure in its own 2019 accounts which have yet to be published.

On Monday, Mr Creed, a retired senior Bank of Ireland executive who resigned from the board of RCE last month, wrote that he had been “raising this issue for sometime … but could not get a satisfactory answer and I refused to sign the accounts last year until this was fully resolved”.

“I resigned from this Board in December 2020 ... due to corporate governance breaches that the chairman refused to have my concerns independently investigated,” he wrote.

He noted that the C&AG had “raised queries” regarding the €500,000 figure during its audit of the RCE accounts last year, “but unfortunately to date nothing has been done to resolve the issue in relation to the accuracy of the financial statements of [RCE]”.

“I request that this issue is now fully investigated by the C&AG in advance of this years accounts being signed and put before the house to ensure a semi state business is not providing inaccurate financial statements,” he said.

Gerard Dollard, chief executive of RCE, said that while the agency had not seen Mr Creed’s correspondence with the C&AG, RCE would be “happy to engage with the PAC and C&AG on any relevant matters”.

“RCE is fully satisfied regarding the preparation of its accounts. RCE cannot comment on the manner in which a third party prepares its accounts,” he said.

He added that RCE has had “extensive engagement” with the operators of the Clonmel track “over a long period of time”, and that those operators had declined an offer from RCE “to participate in independent mediation”.

Meanwhile, Jer Ryan, a director and chair of Davis Road, said that his board had "now reversed the situation and reconciled their accounts”, confirming that the group would be listing the greyhound board as owing it €500,000 when its accounts for 2019 are finalised.

“That has shown the outstanding money, which is shareholders' and private investors' money, is owed by RCE," he added.