Greyhound Racing – Investigation causes early reactions

EVEN before it is published, serious questions are hanging over the report into Bord na gCon following a claim by its controversial chairman that media coverage of what the document contains appeared to be at variance with indications that he had received from the author during his investigation.

While Paschal Taggart and the board will not be making a full statement until they have seen the report, the inescapable inference to be drawn from his reaction is that the chairman believes he was given a steer on some aspect while the probe was still in progress.

It defies credulity that any Government inspector, especially a former top civil servant of the standing of Tim Dalton, would approach the process in a manner that could be construed as pre-judging any of its findings before the analysis was completed. That would make a mockery of a procedure bound by clear-cut constraints.

In order to ensure public confidence in the findings and recommendations of this investigation into the organisation that runs Ireland’s greyhound industry, it is crucial that the report be published in full and without further delay.

Considering the contentious nature of the subject, it is vital to lift the lid on the modus operandi at Bord na gCon which has received over €70 million from the taxpayer in State aid. It is clearly in the public interest that its operations be put under a spotlight.

Unless the Dalton document is published immediately, doubts will linger long after its findings have been scrutinised by Government at a Cabinet meeting to be held, according to Sports Minister John O’Donoghue, within weeks.

Eyebrows will hardly be raised by its call for a fresh approach in the way business at the greyhound board is conducted. Like it or not, Bord na gCon is widely perceived as the personal fiefdom of its chairman, a multi-millionaire businessman with a keen interest in greyhound racing.

Significantly, Mr Dalton suggests that in future the chairman should be appointed for a maximum of ten years as opposed to the present open-ended arrangement.

Rocked by controversy earlier this year after chief executive Aidan Tynan was summarily sacked following a bitter row with the chairman, the greyhound industry is now at a crossroads.

There has been a whiff of scandal in the air since the public learned that Mr Tynan had alleged, in a written complaint to Sports Minister O’Donoghue, that a number of results of doping tests carried out on greyhounds had not been published. Inevitably, the image of the industry was badly tarnished amid claim and counter-claim over the true extent of doping in greyhound racing.

Characterised by internal conflict, and with a torrid history of litigation, morale at Bord na gCon is at a low ebb. Interestingly, the report argues that the controversial dismissal of the chief executive would not have withstood legal challenge.

Acknowledging the need for transparency in the extremely sensitive area of dope testing, Mr Dalton has proposed that in future this matter be entrusted to an independent three-person committee. And in a crucial finding that will be applauded by every punter, the report states emphatically that the results of doping tests and the penalties should be published without fear or favour.

In order to restore public confidence in Ireland’s highly valuable greyhound industry, it is imperative that the murky figures behind the doping of greyhounds be named, shamed and barred from the sport.