Greyhound stadium funding dispute stalls over mediation issue

Greyhound Racing Ireland said it agreed to mediation with the operators of the greyhound stadium in Clonmel, but no nominees have been put forward to mediate the matter

The head of greyhound racing’s governing body said resolution over a disputed €510,000 stalled because a Tipperary greyhound stadium did not come up with names to mediate the dispute. File picture

The head of greyhound racing’s governing body said resolution over a disputed €510,000 stalled because a Tipperary greyhound stadium did not come up with names to mediate the dispute.

Gerard Dollard, chief executive of Greyhound Racing Ireland (formerly the Irish Greyhound Board), told the Public Accounts Committee that the body had agreed to mediation with Davis Road Greyhound Stadium, the company which operates the stadium in Clonmel via leasehold, regarding the dispute in July 2020, but that “despite a number of reminders to DRGS since that time no nominees have been put forward”.

“RCÉ [Rasaíocht Con Éireann] is of the view that any issues arising can only be resolved through engagement,” Mr Dollard said.

His response to the PAC stemmed from a complaint made to the committee by former GRI board member Pat Creed, who resigned last December after a five-year term due to a dissatisfaction with the body’s accounts.

Mr Creed had called for statutory investigations from both the PAC and the Comptroller and Auditor General into alleged issues of corporate governance at the body, one of which relates to the aforementioned dispute, which stems from the stadium’s €2m-budgeted redevelopment in 2013.

GRI has listed that sum as a debt owed by DRGS, with Davis Road meanwhile expected to list GRI as a debtor for the €510,000 figure in its own 2019 accounts, which have yet to be published.

Despite Mr Dollard’s assertion that no mediator has been proposed, a meeting between the two parties is understood to be in the offing in the near future. Davis Road did not reply to a request for comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in his letter, Mr Dollard states that a 2015 agreement to extend the lease on the stadium by 12 years until 2035 no longer applies as the contract “was never put in place and is now moot” due to DRGS having assigned a lease regarding a telecommunications mast on the property to GRI in 2018.

“No application has been made to RCÉ for an extension of the lease,” he said.